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Show 4 BEPOBT OF COMMISSlONEB OF INDIAN bFFAIBS. I the Department of Agriculture. They met with an equally cordial response, and the Congress appropriated $5,000 for the use of this office in carrying its cooperative experiments into effect. They have already proved their worth and given greater promise for the future. An agreement entered into last October provided for the establish-, ment of a cooperative testing and demonstration farm on the Pima Indian Reservation, at Sacaton, Ariz. At this farm will be tested the possibilities of soil, climate, etc., in the cultivation of trees, grains, vegetables and fruits not hitherto raised in the neighborhood, the design being to ascertain what are the most profitable crops for culture on the reservation and also to provide new agricultural industries for the Indians of that part of the country. The 6rst tentative work having been conduded success-fully, there were set aside, and reserved for the purpose in view, two tracts of land on the same reservation, one containing about 55 acres and the other about 10 acres. The latter tract is to be used for desert and drought-resistant plants. This office prepares and maintains the farm in a proper state of cultivation for carrying on the experi-mentnl work, and furnishes the necessary labor, thus giving employ-ment to our Indians, while the Bureau of Plant Industry furnishes all seeds, buds, cuttings, plants and trees for tests and demonstration. All the produce grown is to be turned over to the Indian Office, ex-cept such a$ may be required by the bureau for exhibition purposes, propagation or study. The cooperative project is directed for the Bureau of Plant Industry by Mr. Walter T. Swingle, who is repre-sented in Arizona and California by Prof. S. C. Mason. The work at Sacaton, Ariz., is under the immediate supervision of Mr. E. W. Hudson for the Bureau of Plant Industry and Mr. M. French Gilman for the Indian Office. The superintendent of the reservation, Mr. James B. Alexander, also deserves credit for the active interest he has taken in the experiments. In spite of the fact that the activities of the present season have been for the most part necessarily of a or preparatory nature, the results are highly encouraging, as the following rGsum6 will show. The Bermuda onion, favorably known to our markets for its large size, mild flavor and good keeping qualities, has of recent years been grown principally in the Southwest, especially in Texas and California. In these regions 25,000 poundsa carload-to the acre is cotinted an excellent yield. The Bermuda onions on the testing and demonstration tract at Sacaton, although the seed was planted somewhat too late and the plants retarded by an unusually cold wjnter. produced a crop amounting to more than 30,000 pounds to the acre; and, owing to the care taken to exclude insect enemies, the onions I grown here were superior both in quality and appearance to tho* |