AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1922.

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m. Present: Senators McNary (chairman), Jones of Washington, Lenroot, and Harris.

STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM A. TAYLOR, PATHOLOGIST AND PHYSIOLOGIST AND CHIEF OF BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRYContinued.

INVESTIGATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF FRUITS.

The CHAIRMAN (Senator McNary). Doctor Taylor, when we concluded the session yesterday you were about to discuss the item found on page 30, between lines 21 and 25, for the investigation and improvement of fruits, and the methods of fruit growing. Is that the item?

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes; page 30, line 25.

Senator MCNARY. I understand that the Secretary would like to have the estimate restored.

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes; the Budget estimate.

Senator JONES of Washington. The House cut you only $5,000? Doctor TAYLOR. Yes, sir.

Senator JONES of Washington. And gave you $10,000 more than you had for this year?

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes, sir. The specific purpose for which the $15,000 was provided in the Budget was for the fencing, provision of water supply, working equipment, and shelter for equipment on two experimental vineyards in the State of California which were purchased by the Government last year, but which are unprotected and unequipped, they having been heretofore handled as cooperative vineyards.

Senator JONES of Washington. Can you not do that with the $10,000 additional that the House gave you?

Doctor TAYLOR. It would not be possible to equip both vineyards. We have made a very close estimate; I have had the matter restudied during the last week, and our best estimate is $15,068, the closest figure that we can make.

Senator McNARY. Doctor, I desire to offer this remark at this place: I would not want to see these vineyards protected and cared for at the expense of the general work which you are so well doing under this item. For instance, you have been studying the shipment of broccoli from the Pacific coast, where it is raised in Oregon, Washington, and California, and its behavior in transit. Splendid work has been done along that line, and also along the line of the changes that take place in the shipment of all of our green and perishable fruits.

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes, sir.

Senator McNARY. I would not want to see that work curtailed at all. In the reduction here would it be a tax upon the work you are doing in that line if you took care of these vineyards?

Doctor TAYLOR. We would not feel justified in reducing that work, because that is of immediate and exigent importance. The situation with respect to the vineyards is this: We have there the largest and most comprehensive collections of vinifera grapes, the European type of grapes, anywhere in the world. They have been maintained heretofore cooperatively, largely at the expense of the owners of the land. The Government now, through a special act which originated in the House, has purchased the vineyards.

Senator MCNARY. Did we not do that two years ago?

Doctor TAYLOR. The purchase was consummated during the current fiscal year.

Senator MCNARY. Yes; but I think it was the bill of 1921 in which the authorization was given to purchase these vineyards. Doctor TAYLOR. For the fiscal year 1922; yes.

Senator MCNARY. The title is owned by the Government?
Doctor TAYLOR. Yes, sir..

Senator MCNARY. Just what do you propose to do now?

Doctor TAYLOR. We propose to fence them-they are unfencedand to provide well and pump equipment for water for the propagation work that is necessary. They are at Fresno and at Oakville, Calif.

Senator MCNARY. There is where they are located?

Doctor TAYLOR. One at Fresno and the other at Oakville, which is in Napa County.

Senator JONES of Washington. How far apart?

Doctor TAYLOR. About 200 miles. One is in the San Joaquin Valley and the other is in the Napa Valley. The collections are of varying ages, from 15 years to 5 years. They comprise the phylloxera-resistant stock tests upon which the whole vinifera industry of the coast relies for its determination of the resistance of the stocks to the insects, and the congeniality of the stocks to the raisin and table grape varieties which must be grafted upon it. It is a longtime problem which requires continuity of test; and we are where, if anything happens to it through encroachment by marauders or anything of that sort, the value of the work is very largely reduced. It is menaced by the present situation.

Senator JONES of Washington. How many acres are there at each place?

Doctor TAYLOR. Twenty acres at each place.

3

1:

Senator JONES of Washington. What sort of a fence do you propose to put around?

Doctor TAYLOR. A concrete-post woven-wire fence that will protect the fruit as well as the vines against interference.

Senator MCNARY. Do you contemplate the erection of any buildings?

Doctor TAYLOR. We contemplate the erection at each place of a building suitable for housing the equipment, including the field laboratory equipment required in testing the sugar content and the other qualities of the product.

Senator JONES of Washington. What is your estimate of the cost of these buildings?

Doctor TAYLOR. The estimate of the cost of the building, the fencing, the workshop▬▬

Senator JONES of Washington. No; I just want the cost of the building.

Doctor TAYLOR. It is about $1,400 for the building. I have it here. The fencing, workshop, and storage building at each place will cost $2.550.

Senator MCNARY. At each place?

Doctor TAYLOR. At each place.

Senator MCNARY. That is $5,000, altogether?

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes; $5,100, altogether.

Senator JONES of Washington. What will you do with the other $10,000?

Doctor TAYLOR. The water supply will cost $1,800 at each place, and the machinery, including a tractor at each place, $3,184. Senator JONES of Washington. A tractor, you say?

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes; for the tillage and operation.

Senator JONES of Washington. Does it pay to have a farm tractor for 20 acres?

Doctor TAYLOR. We feel that it will be more economical than to equip with horse power and maintain horse power on purchased forage.

Senator JONES of Washington. What do you estimate that a tractor will cost?

Doctor TAYLOR. I have not the detail of that in these papers; I think about $1,250.

Senator JONES of Washington. Can you not get a tractor suitable for that work for much less than that? I understand that you can get these Fordson or Ford tractors for $250 or $350. It seems to me one of those would be enough for a 20-acre tract. Doctor TAYLOR. I have not the detail of that feature in my papers here.

Senator JONES of Washington. I think you ought to look into that. Doctor TAYLOR. I can furnish you, within the next few hours, the specific detail as to what is contemplated.

(The tractor desired is of the Sampson type, costing $1,150.) Senator JONES of Washington. I may be wrong about it, but that is my understanding about these tractors; that you can get a pretty good tractor for two or three hundred dollars.

Doctor TAYLOR. I think the tractor in common use in that vineyard region, based upon the experience there, is the caterpillar type.

26012-23-3

Senator JONES of Washington. I know; but they might need a certain kind of tractor for a 1,200-acre farm that they would not need for a 20-acre farm.

Doctor TAYLOR. I am speaking of the grape district.

Senator JONES of Washington. I know; but have they not pretty large vineyards there, 160 to 200 acres?

Doctor TAYLOR. There are some, yes; all the way from ten acres to several hundred acres.

Senator JONES of Washington. I do not imagine that you will find $1,200 tractors used on 10-acre and 20-acre farms. I wrong about it, but that is the way it looks to me.

may be

Senator HARRIS. That is true in my section. They use the smaller ones on all the small farms.

Senator JONES of Washington. Yes. Why should we have a large $1,200 tractor for a 20-acre farm?

Senator McNARY. What does a tractor cost?

Doctor TAYLOR. My recollection-I have not the detail of that here is about $1,250.

Senator MCNARY. Of course I have a good deal larger acreage than that. I have two tractors for 200 acres of fruit. I do not know whether or not you cultivate your grapes about the same way that we do prunes and filberts and cherries.

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes.

Senator JONES of Washington. What do you pay for a tractor? Senator MCNARY. I got a Samson, and it cost $1,800, and a Fordson, I think costing about $975.

Senator JONES of Washington. Does the Fordson sell for that much?

Senator MCNARY. A Fordson for work of this kind would sell for less than that: about $715, I think.

Senator HARRIS. The Fordson would cost less than $500, I think. Senator MCNARY. But, you see, the freight is considerable. Of course, it could be moved by water transportation to Wisconsin, and across from there.

Doctor TAYLOR. I think this figure that I have quoted includes the plow and cultivator outfit which accompanies a tractor of the caterpillar type.

Senator JONES of Washington. I think you can get a pretty good tractor for a 20-acre farm for much less than $1,200. I think you should look into that.

Senator HARRIS. How much are you asking?

Doctor TAYLOR. This is a question of the restoration of the Budget estimate, which was an increase of $15,000 for the equipment of the vineyards. The House cut that $15,000 to $10,000, and the department requests the full amount of the Budget.

We

Senator McNARY. You see, Senator, we have the two vineyards. We acquired the fee-simple title to the property a year ago. have it, and the Doctor wants to protect it from the invasions of cattle that would attack a vineyard. He also wants to dig a well. Doctor TAYLOR. Not only cattle, but men.

Senator MCNARY. Yes. Is it going to be a man-proof fence?
Doctor TAYLOR. Yes.

Senator JONES of Washington. Could you not take care of one of these farms this year and the next one next year to advantage? They are 200 miles apart. Could you not put the fence up around two of them, and then cultivate the other in good shape?

Doctor TAYLOR. The unfortunate thing is that the collections are there, and the tests are under way, and they ought not to be impaired

Senator JONES of Washington. Are they being carried on under this $121,700?

Doctor TAYLOR. Yes, sir; though with a very minimum of what is required to keep them going. The big question here, in addition to the determination of the varieties that will be best suited for the various uses, is the question of the effect of these resistant stocks upon the productiveness and the quality of the product, which has not yet been worked out either in Europe or in this country.

Senator MCNARY. I think it is a great work, as far as that goes.

PECAN CULTURE, ETC.

Now, Doctor, what other item have you to discuss?

Mr. JUMP. Mr. Chairman, Doctor Taylor is the chairman of two committees which deal with the New Iberia and Woodward, Okla., farm, which are included in the groups of items Senator Lenroot desires us to discuss, but, before we go to those, I think the other day you stated that you desired to make some inquiries about the pecan work and I said Doctor Taylor would be here to go into that. Senator MCNARY. Yes. I met a delegation of pecan growers in my office, and Senator Ransdell spoke to me. I do not know whether I have any of the literature here or not. That was to increase the appropriation offered last year by Senator Harris, I think, to study soils adaptable and suitable for the cultivation of the pecan.

Mr. JUMP. It is the item immediately preceding the one discussed. Senator MCNARY. Yes; here is the letter signed by the Paper Shell Pecan Growers' Association of America.

Senator HARRIS. What is it they want, may I ask?
Senator MCNARY (reading):

Item 1. The estimate for soil-fertility investigations into organic causes of infertility and remedial measures, maintenance of productivity, properties, and composition of soil humus, and the transformation and formation of soil Lumus by soil organisms, recommends an increase from the appropriation for 1923 of $45,060 to $50,060, an increase of $5,000. The increase, if granted, will be used for investigating fertilizer problems involved in the decreased yield of sugar in both cane and beet.

Where is that item?

Mr. JUMP. On page 27.

Senator JONES of Washington. Apparently the House has given them $3,000 more than was asked for.

Senator MCNARY. This is not the item he is speaking of. This is another. He is speaking about an increase from the appropriation for 1923 of $45,600 to $50,600, which is an increase of $5,000.

Mr. JUMP. That is on line 20 of page 27, Mr. Chairman.