Detailed break-down of major items of proposed expenditures—Continued

COOPERATION OF STATES IN GRASSHOPPER-CONTROL WORK

Mr. LUDLOW. I would like to bring out, if I may, a little more extensively, one phase of this matter. You said there were 23 States where grasshopper infestation was more pronounced than in other States? Mr. ROHWER. That is right.

Mr. LUDLOW. I want to ask you what the States are doing.

Mr. ROHWER. The States are contributing very definitely toward grasshopper control.

Mr. LUDLOW. I want to know, primarily, if the States are doing their part.

Mr. ROHWER. We think they are. The grasshopper work is set up approximately on a 50-50 basis.

Mr. LUDLOW. You are going to put in the record just what the States are doing with respect to all of these insect pests?

Mr. ROHWER. That is what I understand.

Mr. LUDLOW. You have here a considerable paid-personnel set-up. It was my understanding from previous hearings that the States furnished the labor.

Mr. ROHWER. They do.

Mr. LUDLOW. And the Government furnishes the bait?

Mr. ROHWER. That is correct for grasshoppers and Mormon crickets, except where they are occurring on idle and abandoned land, and threaten to migrate into crop lands. There we have programs in which we pay the labor.

Mr. LUDLOW. It seems to me it is more of a local problem and local responsibility than a Federal responsibility, and I wanted to be sure you thing the States do what you think they ought to do, and are not calling on you for any more aid than is needed?

Mr. ROHWER. The States are contributing to this cooperative work on a basis that averages 50-50.

Mr. LUDLOW. You think that is a fair basis?

Mr. ROHWER. I think that is a fair basis; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. This is another front in the war?

Mr. ROHWER. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. We have the Japanese on one side and the Germans on the other side, and these pests in between?

Mr. ROHWER. That is correct; and these pests have a very definite bearing on food production.

Mr. LAMBERTSON. And you have the labor situation?

Mr. LUDLOW. Three fronts.

Mr. TABER. What about the chinch bug; do the States cooperate much on that?

Mr. ROHWER. Yes, sir; they do.

Mr. TABER. You are going to show that?

Mr. ROHWER. I will include that in the statement.

Mr. TABER. Do they cooperate on this white-fringed beetle?

Mr. ROHWER. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. You told us that was prevalent worse in the city of New Orleans?

Mr. ROHWER. That is correct.

Mr. TABER. Now, where would it be present there? They do not have much cultivating of the ground in New Orleans, except in a few parks, do they?

Mr. ROHWER. From the standpoint of commercial damage, it does practically nothing in the city of New Orleans. The purpose of the work there is primarily to prevent its spread. It probably was introduced at New Orleans and spread from there out into the agricultural areas.

Mr. TABER. Where would it congregate in such a place as that? Mr. ROHWER. In nursery establishments, yards, and along the levee banks, and the levee banks are the places where you find the largest number of beetles.

Mr. LUDLOW. The same thought occurred to me that is running through Mr. Taber's mind: What do they feed on?

Mr. ROHWER. It feeds on the roots of grasses, but does not do commercial damage in the city of New Orleans. The population there is very low.

Mr. TABER. But it is there and spreads from there?

Mr. ROHWER. It spreads from there; yes.

Mr. TABER. It seems like you ought to be able to get rid of that. Mr. ROHWER. It is one of the hardest jobs we have.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Rohwer.

SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1942.

EMERGENCY RUBBER PROJECT

STATEMENTS OF DR. E. C. AUCHTER, ARGICULTURAL RESEARCH ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; C. M. GRANGER, ASSISTANT CHIEF, FOREST SERVICE; AND DR. E. W. BRANDES, HEAD PATHOLOGIST, DIVISION OF RUBBER PLANT INVESTIGATIONS, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Granger, the committee is considering an estimate of $4,200,000 in House Document No. 663 to carry out the provisions of the act of March 5, 1942.

We will be glad to have you give us a statement about that. Mr. GRANGER. Of course, you know, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the general coverage.

JUSTIFICATION OF ESTIMATE

The CHAIRMAN. First, will you insert in the record your explanatory statement and break-down?

Mr. GRANGER. Yes, sir.

(The statement and break-down follow:)

EMERGENCY RUBBER PROJECT-EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Senate bill 2282, approved March 5, 1942, has for its purpose the partial filling of a definite gap in the future rubber needs of the United States, particularly starting with the year 1946. Because of climatic controls over seeding and planting of guayule, a part of the work authorized by the bill must be accomplished in the spring of 1942 to avoid loss of a year's time in the production of substantial quantities of guayule rubber. This means that a maximum of 30,000 nursery

beds 4 by 180 feet must be completed, including seeding, by May 15, 1942, and that 2,000 acres of field plantations must be established by April 15, 1942.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK TO BE DONE, FISCAL YEAR 1942

1. Intercontinental Rubber Co., whose land, plant, and other possessions located in California will be purchased under the authority of the bill, holds sufficient guayule seed to establish from 600 to 750 acres of seedbeds. The nursery of the company near Salinas, Calif., has planting stock sufficient to plant 2,000 acres. Purchase of the company's properties, facilities, patents, and processes located in California must be completed immediately. An agreement has been reached with the company providing for the sale of the properties for $1,721,325.

2. For the seedbeds.-From 600 to 750 acres of land of suitable soil type and topography must be located. (This acreage in nurseries will provide sufficient nursery stock to plant 60,000 to 75,000 acres in plantations in the spring of 1943): (a) Leases therefor negotiated and closed; (b) the land cleared of sod or other cover, plowed, harrowed, and leveled; (c) seedbeds graded, smoothed, and fertilized; (d) many wells drilled, casing purchased and installed; (e) material, poles, wire, insulators for power lines, switches, motors, and pumps procured and installed; (f) about 10 miles of water-main pipe purchased and laid; (g) about 110 miles of piping and accessories for an overhead sprinkling system procured and installed a huge undertaking; (h) windbreaks established, involving the purchase and fabrication of some 2,200,000 board feet of lumber; (i) seeding (this task and all of those listed above must be completed by May 15, 1942); (j) subsequent to seeding, irrigation and weeding must be carried on continuously.

3. For planting of 2,000 acres in spring of 1942.—(a) Land of suitable soil type and topography (2,000 acres) must be found in localities where precipitation as to date of occurrence and quantity is right. The combination of appropriate soils and suitable amount and seasonal distribution of precipitation is difficult to find. Selection of suitable lands must be painstakingly done; (b) leases negotiated and closed, land cleared, plowed, and harrowed, seedlings planted (these jobs must be completed by April 15, 1942); (c) subsequent to planting, periodic cultivating by machines, supplemented by hand work.

4. Equipment and facilities.-(a) To supplement the entirely inadequate supply of special large machines for seeding and planting nursery stock, additional pieces must be manufactured or put in working order in time to insure their availability early enough to complete the seeding and planting by the respective up-set dates heretofore named; (b) much standard motor equipment, i. e., tractors and trucks, plows, harrows, and small tools must be procured, delivered, and conditioned for use at the earliest possible date; (c) administrative headquarters must be searched out, furnished, and supplied. Personnel composed of soil experts, trained land examiners, skilled rental negotiators, legal advisers, planting technicians, foremen, surveyors, skilled laborers, equipment repair men, administrative workers, and a large force of laborers must be recruited, organized, trained, and set to work.

5. For experimental plantings.-(a) Location of large number of experimental plantings in the Southwest for test of areas where large-scale plantings guayule could be made in 1943 from nursery stock planted in 1942. Since acreages in proven districts are limited, additional lands must be located for the field plantings in 1943 and for any further extension of plantings that may be necessitated by the course of the war. This involves not only the location and testing of areas where climatic factors and irrigation facilities are adequate for guayule cultivation and growth, but a check on the effect of local conditions on production of rubber and a determination of the optimum harvest period in relation both to plant growth and rubber content. Additional facilities will be needed at the earliest possible date to locate and plant 100 test plots by April 15; (b) experimental plots for test plantings of goldenrod and other rubber-bearing plants in the Southeast to increase to the maximum the present stocks of high-yielding strains, so that they can be expanded to large-scale production if practicable commercial processes are developed and the continuation of the war necessitates all-out production of rubber.

6. In preparation for planting of 73,000 acres in spring of 1943.-Initiate the search and obtain leases for land for 1943 plantations which will be approximately 73,000 acres. This acreage will be planted in the spring of 1943 with the seedlings grown in the 750-acre nursery established March to May 1942.