OF THE

PURDUE UNIVERSITY AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT

STATION.

FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1904.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR.

TO PRESIDENT W. E. STONE.

Sir: I take pleasure in submitting herewith the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Indiana Agricultural Experiment Station, covering the year ending June 30, 1904.

The Work of the Station.

While a few new investigations have been started during the past year, the work of the Station has in the main been conducted along the same lines as heretofore. Some very important work has been accomplished, but only a small portion of what could have been done under more favorable conditions.

Besides the four bulletins mentioned under the head of publications, a very important piece of work completed during the year has been in connection with the preparation of a manuscript for an exhaustive treatise on the diseases of swine by the Veterinary department. This manuscript was completed in October, 1903, and should have been published as soon as completed, but owing to lack of funds, it was found impossible to publish it during the year covered by this report.

Fertilizer Test Work.-Another very important investigation that has been in progress during the year is the soil improvement work conducted by the Chemical department. Some very striking results have been secured in this connection from the use of fertilizers on some of the typical soils of the state. As a concrete example of the value of this work to the farmers of the state, it may be stated that the yield of corn on white clay soil in the southern part of the state was increased over 25 bushels per acre. Over 90 bushels per

acre were harvested on plats fertilized with nitrogen. On this particular land this season potash and phosphoric acid did little good. It was clearly shown that nitrogen was the controlling element, and as nitrogen can be secured from the atmosphere gratis by the use of legume crops, such as clover and soy beans, the very great importance of growing these crops on this kind of soil was very strikingly illustrated.

Another striking illustration of the value of this kind of work was furnished by the experiments on corn on muck soils in Newton and Tippecanoe counties. In these experiments the yield of corn was increased 20 to 25 bushels per acre the first season by the use of 200 pounds of potash salts per acre. As the potash cost less than $5.00 per acre, and as the increased crop was worth $10.00 or $12.00 per acre, the very decided financial gain from such treatment can be seen. There are over 2,000 acres of muck soil on the farm in Newton county where this work was conducted. At a gain of $6.00 or $7.00 per acre, it can be seen that this experiment indicates the means of increasing the profit on this one farm some $12,000 of $14,000 in a single year, or nearly as much as the entire work of the Station costs. It is to be noted that this was the result the first season. It is confidently believed that the effect of the fertilization will continue for several years. As there are hundreds of thousands of acres of muck soil in the state, the importance of such experiments can readily be seen.

It is to be noted that the element that produced the results in the experiments on the muck soils in the northern part of the state was without effect on the clay soils in the southern portion, whereas the element that caused such a marked increase in the yield in the southern portion was without effect on the muck in the northern portion. This shows the absolute necessity of careful experimentation on the different soils of the state in order to determine their needs.

There is no question that if the farmers of the state would take advantage of the indications furnished by such experiments the yield of crops in the state could be very decidedly increased. There is absolutely no reason, for example, why the average yield of wheat in Indiana should be only 13 or 14 bushels to the acre, when the yield in England and other European countries is double that

amount.

Pig Feeding Experiment.-A very successful and important pig 1eeding experiment was conducted by the Animal Husbandry department during the year. In this experiment the very great importance of adding some food rich in portein to the usual corn diet was very clearly demonstrated. Four lots of four pigs, each of the same breed and as nearly uniform as possible, were fed with the following

rations, giving the following results. In calculating the results, the value of the pork produced and cost of food eaten were figured at current market prices.

It will be seen that the lot fed with corn and soy beans made considerably over double the gain in live weight made by the animals fed on corn alone, and the lots fed shorts and tankage in addition to the corn made almost double the gain made by the lot fed corn alone.

When the financial phase of the question is considered the differences are much more striking. It will be observed that the lot fed on corn alone made a loss of three cents while the lots fed with rations containing protein in addition to the corn made gains of from $4.49 to $5.71. Counting a gain of only $1.00 to the hog fed, which is decidedly less than that made by the animals in either of the lots receiving protein, the immense importance of such experiments to the farmers of the state can be seen when it is stated that there are over 2,000,000 hogs fed in Indiana each season.

A detailed statement of this work, as well as of the fertilizer test work mentioned above, will be published in bulletin form as soon as the funds at command will permit.

Other very important lines of work have also been conducted during the year by other departments of the Station, such as the crop rotation work of the Agricultural Department and the variety testing work conducted at various places in the state by the same department, the field dairy work begun in the state by the Dairy department, in cooperation with the State Dairy Association, the study of grain rusts in the Botanical department, the tests of varieties of fruits by the Horticultural department, etc.

Mention is here made of only a few of the more important investigations in progress. For a more detailed account of the work of the Station, see the reports of the different departments.

Financial Needs of the Station.

As the financial condition of the Station for the year covered by this report remained practically the same as last year, what was said then in regard to the very urgent needs of additional funds still applies with even greater force, and in order that the matter may again be brought to the attention of the people of the state, a number of the statements made in last year's report are repeated.

Owing to the necessity of replacing a large amount of feeding stuff and other material destroyed by fire in the summer of 1903, the past year has been one of even more than usual financial stringency. The assets of the Station have as heretofore been limited to the Government appropriation of $15,000 and a small additional sum received from the sale of farm products. By referring to the financial report, it will be seen that the total income this year, including a balance of $831.33 carried over from the previous year, was only $17,416.72. Of the above amount $16,185.64 was used for the items: salaries, labor, publications, postage and stationery, freight and express, heat and water, sundry supplies, feeding stuffs, library, tools and machinery, traveling expenses, and repairs to buildings. This left only $1231.08 with which to provide all other fixed expenses and to procure the necessary additions to apparatus and other facilities for the experimental work of the Station and provide for all extension of new work both at the Station and elsewhere in the

state.

It is needless to state that under such a state of affairs little new work could be attempted and the work already in progress could not be supported as it should.

The Experiment Stations of our neighboring states, as well as of most other states of the Union, have much larger incomes with which to carry on their work.

In the following table are given the incomes of the Stations in the states adjoining Indiana for the year ending June 30th, 1904, in comparison with that of our own Station:

With an income of less than one-fourth as much as the average income of our neighbors, practically all of which is used up for fixed

expenses, it is very apparent that it is impossible for the Indiana Station to accomplish anything like so much as is accomplished by them, particularly in the line of cooperative extension work. It is very humiliating to have to confess that our neighbors are in the lead in such matters, but considering the financial condition of our Station, the reason is obvious.

It has come to a point where the funds of this Station are entirely inadequate to provide even for the necessary running expenses, not to mention outside investigations. There is for example, not enough money available at the present time to print the results of work already done, to say nothing of providing for new work. There is not a single department of the Station that is not at present very seriously hampered on account of lack of funds with which to carry on its work. It has come to a point, where one of two things must be done in order to successfully carry on the work of the Station, even as at present planned; either additional funds must be provided or else some of the work carried on at present must be dropped.

It would seem that in as progressive a state as our own, and one containing such large agricultural interests, the latter alternative should not be considered for a moment. To discontinue any line of work now in progress would not only mean the cutting off of all investigations in that connection, but the loss of a large amount of past work as well; as in most lines of Station work reliable results can only be reached after years of preliminary investigation.

As to specific needs aside from the routine running expenses, perhaps the most important is that of a fixed income for conducting experimental and cooperative work at other points in the state, or extension work if it may be so called. It is highly important, for example, that investigations should be taken up concerning the soils and crops of different sections of the state. We now know fairly well as to what varieties and crops are best adapted to the soil of the Station farm at LaFayette, and what methods of fertilization and soil treatment are most successful there, but as the state contains very diversified soil conditions, particularly in its north and south extent, the knowledge gained from experiments at LaFayette, is unfortunately not applicable to many other sections.

It is also important that funds should be provided for carrying on investigations on a larger scale concerning the feeding, breeding, care and treatment of live stock, both at the Station and in cooperation with the stockmen of the state. The live stock business is one of the leading agricultural industries of the state, and it would seem no more than good business judgment for the state to provide