from time to time, several series have been started on farms in Southern Indiana, in Scott and Pike counties. Careful attention has been given to the planning and establishing of these experiments in cooperation with the Chemical Department, which is conducting the fertilizer investigations connected with them.

Correspondence. The correspondence of the Department with farmers has been growing rapidly, and is worthy of note as an indication of increasing interest and confidence in the work of the Station. Much time and attention is given to answering questions and aiding inquiries to secure the information they desire, which must often be very helpful in bringing about improvements. Respectfully submitted,

A. T. WIANCKO, Agriculturist.

Report of Agricultural Extension Work.

ARTHUR GOSs, Director.

Sir: As a part of the work of the Agricultural Department, a considerable amount of extension work has been carried on during the year. Through this medium efforts have been made to place before the farmers of the state, in a practical manner, the results of experimental investigations. This has been accomplished by lectures before farmers' institutes, corn and agricultural clubs, the use of special trains, newspaper articles, special bulletins, exhibits at county and state fairs, farmers' excursions and demonstration work on county farms. The work, although entirely new in some respects, has been received most favorably by the entire agricultural class. So many and urgent have been the demands for assistance and information along the lines suggested, that the department has been taxed to its utmost capacity.

One of the most important features of the year's work was the running of two special seed-corn trains, December 26, 27, 28, 29, 1905, and March 26, 27, 28, 29, 1906, over the Lake Erie and Western and Monon railroads respectively. These trains were equipped with engine, baggage car, two audience coaches and a guest coach, by the railroad company, and furnished free for the use of the Experiment Station.

The audience coaches were fitted up with charts and other demonstration material used in presenting the subject of harvesting, storing, selecting, testing and grading of seed corn.

sist in giving the talks, D. F. Maish, of Frankfort, Ind., and J. P. Davis, of Sheridan, Ind., were engaged.

The trains ran through twenty-eight counties in the corn belt of the state. Eighty-two stops, of 30 minutes each, for lectures, were made, and it was estimated that over 20,000 farmers heard the lectures and received bulletins pertaining to the work. In every way this innovation was a grand success, and proved of great value in bringing the Station work directly before the people of the State. It is generally felt that similar trains could be run over all lines in the state with profit to the railroads and farmers. Another feature of the extension work is that of demonstrations on the county farms in different counties of the state. Owing to the fact that the work is new, the scope covered was necessarily limited. This year the work consisted of a test of varieties of corn grown by farmers in the county in which the test was conducted.

For this experimental or demonstrative work, the county commissioners were asked to set aside a part of a field on the county farm and to appropriate from county funds sufficient money to cover the expenses incurred.

Only two counties, Clinton and Randolph, were approached on this subject. Both counties responded and the work received a successful start.

On the Clinton county farm 30 varieties of corn from as many farmers, were planted in plots side by side, while 28 varieties were planted on the Randolph county farm.

The objects of this work are:

I. To gain the farmers' interest in experimental work. Experiments carried on at the State Experiment Station do not appeal to the people as strongly as those conducted nearer home.

2. To encourage improvement in the growing of grains by the elimination of poor varieties and the introducing of good ones.

3. To solve problems for the farmers than can best be done on soils and under climatic conditions exactly the same as those they must deal with.

As the work advances, a study of the varieties of small grain, fertilizer tests and lines of horticultural work will be taken up. This field already gives promise of some valuable results and should receive most careful attention from the Experiment Station.

During the early summer, farmers' excursions were run from La Porte, Hamilton, Hendricks and Clinton counties to the University and Experiment Station. More than 2,000 farmers, their wives, sons and daughters came at this time. Much of the time of these excursionists was spent in studying the soil and crop experi

ments in the field, the animal husbandry, dairy and horticultural work. Through these excursions the farmers were brought in close touch with the Experiment Station men and work, and their interest in the results of all future work is necessarily increased. Respectfully submitted,

G. I. CHRISTIE,

Associate in Agricultural Extension.

Report of the Horticultural Department.

ARTHUR GOSs, Director.

Sir: The following is a brief statement of the experimental work of the Horticultural Department for the past year:

As mentioned in my last report, much of the work is of a continuous nature, requiring several years to show any definite results. The orchard fertilizer experiments are of this nature. One of these, in Southern Indiana, has been in progress now for three years, but up to the present time there is not enough difference manifested between the fertilized and the unfertilized to be perceptible in the growth of the trees. The soil here is of a red clay nature, naturally well adapted to the growth of apple trees. The application of mineral phosphates as a preventive of the root-rot in trees has not given any satisfactory results thus far.

It will require at least another year to get any definite results from the orchard in the northern end of the state, which is planted upon sandy soil.

Pedigreed Strawberry Plants. Last year our experience with the so-called pedigreed strawberry plants, as compared with the same varieties grown in the usual way, was decidedly in favor of the common method. The experiment was continued, with the same beds, another season, but a late frost and prolonged drouth at fruiting time cut the experiment short, so that no definite results could be obtained this season.

Commercial Fertilizers on Tomatoes. This experiment had a threefold object in view, I. Testing the effect of commercial fertilizers on tomatoes. 2. Testing varieties. 3. Testing the productivity of individual plants. Twelve varieties were used and 18 plants to each variety, making 216 plants. The varieties were planted in rows four feet apart each way, and the fertilizer, consisting of acid phosphate, muriate of potash, and nitrate of soda, was applied, in varying quantities, across the varietal rows. The fruit. of each of the 216 plants was picked and weighed separately during

the ripening season. One of the most interesting results noted was the great variation between individual plants in their productive qualities, some plants of the same varieties and with the same treatment producing as much as five times as much fruit as others. Here is a point in plant breeding that is evidently not taken into account by seedsmen when selecting their seed fruits.

Varietal Tests. The ordinary varietal tests of orchard and small fruits have been continued, and about 100 varieties of strawberries will be ready to report upon next season, a number of these being seedlings of our own raising.

Spraying Experiments. Last spring a power sprayer, manufactured by the Wallace Company of Champaign, Ill., was purchased, and nearly all of our experimental work was done with this outfit. It was much more satisfactory than the barrel pump heretofore used, as with it we are able to get a greater force and therefore a finer spray, which is very desirable, and we are also able to maintain a steady pressure, which is also an important feature of the work. In spraying for the control of the codling moth in the apple our results this year as well as last, have shown very conclusively that for the second brood, two applications, one about July 14th and the other July 25th, are much more effective than where only one appiication is made.

Our experiments for the control of the San Jose scale have been mostly of a cooperative nature. Those taking part in these experiments were W. J. Ritterskamp and Henry Yeager of Princeton, Gibson county; W. W. Clark, Elizabeth, Harrison county; E. J. Walker, Sheridan. Hamilton county; L. E. Hibben and Hilton U. Brown, Irvington, Marion county.

Other cooperative experiments on the growing of onions and potatoes have been carried on during the past season with Mr. R. A. Lockwood, near Dayton, Tippecanoe county, and Mr. J. N. Snodgrass, of Kirklin, Clinton county.

Respectfully submitted,

JAMES TROOP, Horticulturist.

Report of the Chemical Department.

ARTHUR GOSs, Director.

Sir: The following is a brief report of the work of the Chemical Department for the year ending June 30th, 1906.

GENERAL ANALYTICAL WORK.

I. The study of the corn plant under different conditions of moisture and fertilization was continued. Notwithstanding that the rainfall in 1905 was such that very little irrigation was required (three times in August) it was found on harvesting the corn on the plats on November 2, 1905, that there was a marked increase in the yield of the plats to which water had been applied. This increase varied from one and six tenths to fifteen bushels per acre on comparative irrigated and unirrigated plats. Analyses are being made of the produce from the different plats. This investigation will be continued until several years' results are available.

2. In connection with the fertilizer test work in progress, the study of the water underlying the muck soil on the farm of L. G. Nice in Tippecanoe county has been continued.

In this connection fifty-eight samples of soils and sub-soils from different parts of the state have also been analyzed during the year.

3. The work of the Associate Chemist on natural phospnates that has been in progress for a number of years past has been continued, but owing to the large amount of routine work but little headway has been made the past year. It is hoped that conditions will soon be such that this work may be finished, as there seems to be a demand for the facts which are being brought out by this investigation.

4. In connection with the fertilizer control work the study of the neutral ammonium citrate solution and methods of preparing same is being continued, with results greatly favoring the use of the Calcium Chloride (Alternate) method of the A. O. A. C.

5. In connection with the fertilizer control work an investigation has also been conducted during the year concerning the effect on the content of available phosphoric acid of re-grinding and allowing inspection samples to stand in the laboratory. For this purpose the soluble phosphoric acid was washed out of two hundred and fifty-five samples and the residues held until the samples were reached in the regular inspection work, at which time the soluble phosphoric acid was washed from a duplicate portion of the original sample and the residues from the first and second washings