Report of the Agricultural Department.

ARTHUR GOSs, Director.

Sir: I beg to present the following brief account of the work of the Agricultural Department, for the year ending June 30, 1907:

The field experimental work conducted on the University Farm was continued along the same general lines as during the preceding year, expansion or the taking up of new work being practically prohibited by lack of room. The various crop rotation experiments, with and without fertilization, continue to yield interesting results, and some valuable data will be available for publication in the near future. In the testing of varieties of grain and forage crops the object has been, as heretofore, to test new and promising varieties that come to the notice of the Department beside standard varieties of the same crop, to determine their relative merits. In this work varieties are usually given five years to establish a record of their yielding power and important characteristics, after which they are dropped, unless of especial value and desired for co-operative tests among farmers or for the work of breeding still better varieties. Through these variety tests some valuable new varieties of common crops have been discovered, and are being introduced into general use by means of small co-operative tests, including four or five of the most promising varieties among interested farmers throughout the State. Among the newer things, a hardy variety of winter barley has been developed. This began with five or six plants which lived through the winter of 1903-04 on a twentieth acre plot, sown at the same time as the winter wheat of that season. In the last two seasons this variety of barley has given more than double the yields secured from the best of the spring barleys tested. A variety of winter rye. has also been found which promises to give a large increase in yield over the common sorts. In the same way, a superior variety of soy beans has been discovered. The latter crop, together with the cow pea, is rapidly finding favor among the farmers of the State, and by its tests, the Station can lend valuable assistance in pointing the way to the better varieties. Tests of varieties of winter oats have again resulted in failure, but the effort to secure a hardy sort will be continued.

The interest taken by the farmers of the State in the co-operative testing of promising varieties of field crops continues to grow, and in all lines more offers to co-operate were received than could be made use of with the limited stocks of seed available. Seven hundred and thirty-nine such experiments on over seven hundred farms were put in operation during the year, and were distributed among the various crops as follows: 75 tests of five varieties of winter

wheat, 61 tests of late summer sown alfalfa, 55 tests of five varieties of oats, 415 tests of four to five varieties of corn, 62 tests of four varieties of soy beans, and 71 tests of four varieties of cow peas.

Considerable attention has been given to cultural methods in the production of soy beans and cow peas, and it has been found that thin planting in rows, using twenty to thirty pounds of seed per acre, and cultivating the growing crops, is much more profitable than sowing three or four times as much seed broadcast without cultivation, as has been the practice among farmers trying to raise these crops. The experiments conducted along this line by the Station indicate that in many of the cases where failures were reported the fault was not in the crop itself, but in the cultural methods adopted for its production. The corn cultural experiments begun last year in Hamilton county are being continued on somewhat larger scale, and promise to yield some valuable data concerning the various types of corn cultural implements and their use in tending a corn crop.

In the field crops breeding work, most attention has been given to the improvement of corn and wheat, as heretofore. Seventeen regular corn breeding plots under control of the Station are now being conducted in several important corn growing centers in the State where suitable conditions could be found. Plots are thus far located in Porter, Wells, Huntington. Cass, Randolph, Johnson, Morgan, Greene, Vigo and Tippecanoe counties. On most of the plots the main object is to develop a suitable type of corn for that particular section of the state. In three cases special attention is given to increasing the nitrogen content of the grain. On the University Farm several special lines of corn breeding work are under way. In one plot the main object is to develop a type of dent corn that will produce two or more ears per stalk; in another, the object is to determine the effect of selecting all seed ears from stalks having suckers; and in another, an effort is being made to determine the effect of shape of seed ear upon productiveness and other qualities. Careful records are kept of the characteristics and performance of each ear and row in the several breeding plots, and a large amount of statistical data is being collected which may be expected to shed some further light on the subject of corn improvement.

The work in wheat breeding, which is conducted on the University Farm, was extended this year to include over twenty thousand individuals from over two hundred specially selected and pedigreed parent plants out of the best of last year's centgeners. To accomplish the best results, this line of breeding must be still further extended, and the field work combined with some laboratory and green house work, and it is hoped that it may be possible to provide the necessary equipment in the near future. In a smaller way, sim

ilar breeding work is being carried on with oats, winter barley, cow peas and soy beans, and will be extended as fast as the necessary labor and facilities for effective work can be made available. The little work it has been possible to do so far, indicates that much good may be accomplished by systematic breeding towards improving the yielding power, quality and hardiness of all of these crops. In the case of the more extensively grown crops, even a small amount of improvement would soon become of vast importance to the agriculture of the State, and it is to be hoped that it may be possible to extend this branch of the Department's work.

Respectfully submitted.

A. T. WIANCKO, Agriculturist.

Report of the Horticultural Department.

ARTHUR GOSS, Director.

Sir: Following is a statement of the work of the Horticultural Department for the past year:

It has been possible to greatly extend the scope of this work owing to the fact that at the beginning of September, 1906, Mr. C. G. Woodbury was appointed Assistant Horticulturist, and to him. was delegated most of the co-operative experimental work which is mentioned further on.

The experiments with orchard and small fruits on the Experiment Station grounds were under my immediate supervision, and have been gradually extended so as to include many more varieties. Owing to the heavy, late spring frosts most of the early blooming varieties were entirely destroyed. This was especially true of eighty varieties of strawberries, and in a lesser degree with the other varieties of small fruits. A few varieties of apples escaped the severe freezing weather and bore good crops of fruit.

An investigation of the melon growing industry of Southern Indiana has been started during the past season. Diseases of watermelons and cantaloupes, varieties, methods of growing, packing and marketing, have been studied with a view of discovering the most effectual remedy for the various troubles that the melon growers have to contend with.

Watermelons were found to be attacked severely by the wilt disease (Neocosmospora vasinfecta var. nivea.) The histories of about 55 fields were obtained for years back. These were carefully studied and the fields observed during the past season. The evidence collected seemed to indicate that the watermelon wilt could be controlled by a long rotation and by not allowing melons to follow melons in the same field oftener than once in six years. It appar

ently takes about this long for the disease to die out after once infecting a field and if melons follow in less time than that mentioned, on a field in which the disease has appeared, the crop is very liable to serious infection.

The two diseases causing most trouble on the cantaloupe are the wilt and the rust. The former is very similar to the watermelon wilt in its effect, but is caused by a germ (Bacillus tracheiphilus) and fields are liable to infection in which melons have never before been grown. No satisfactory method of control has as yet been developed. The rust annually causes great damage to the cantaloupes, especially about Decker. This is a fungus disease, and from work done this season it seems to be evident that it can be controlled by the 5-5-50 formula of Bordeaux mixture. Four applications of this, kept plants in a fairly healthy condition, while the crop on unsprayed adjacent rows was ruined.

A new so-called rust resistant cantaloupe which has been recently developed by the Colorado Experiment Station, was also tried. Its rust enduring qualities were very marked. The melon was of the Rocky Ford type and of fine quality, but is at a disadvantage in Indiana on account of its lateness. The investigations of different phases of the business will be pursued another season.

Tomatoes. The work of breeding tomatoes for greater productiveness was continued this season. Complete records were kept of the yield in weight and number of fruits on each plant during the entire period of production. The heaviest yield for a single plant was 30 pounds, nine ounces; the lowest was four pounds, nine ounces or a difference of about 700% in yield of different plants under conditions as exactly similar as they could be made. The greatest number of fruits per single plant was 113, the least 15, or again over 700%. The correlation between greatest number and greatest weight was not exact, however. The importance of fixing the fruit bearing tendency by continued selection, thereby obtaining a much more prolific race of the variety under experimentation, whether it be of tomatoes or other small fruits, can be readily appreciated.

An investigation of the present status of the growing of tree fruits, especially apples, has been undertaken, as a preliminary to more extended co-operative work in the future. Careful records. were kept of all operations this season in the care of 18 orchards. Some co-operative spraying was done, especially in the way of testing various new preparations for the control of the San Jose scale. The Rex Lime-Sulphur, Target Brand, Horicum, Scalecide, Tak-anap Soap, Thrip Juice, Arseniated Petroleum Emulsion and Crude Oil, were used in comparison with the home made standard lime-sul

fur wash. A 20% kerosene emulsion made with the Tak-a-nap soap was found to be an effective winter spray for the scale, as was also crude oil. The one, however, is too costly, and the other as used at present seems to be of considerable danger to the trees.

In addition to the above, several minor activities of a more popular nature, received some attention.

The co-operative orchard and melon experiments mentioned above are continuous and so will necessarily have to be carried on for several years before definite conclusions are reached.

Respectfully submitted,

J. TROOP, Horticulturist.

Report of the Chemical Department.

ARTHUR GOSs, Director.

Sir: The following is a brief summary of the work of the Chemical Department for the year ending June 30, 1907:

STATE CHEMIST'S WORK.

The work of the State Chemist was considerably increased by the passage of a concentrated feeding stuff control law similar to the fertilizer control and much time in the past three months has been devoted to explaining the law and endeavoring to acquaint the manufacturer and consumer with its requirements. In addition to the correspondence mentioned the chief deputy explained the law at the meeting of the Indiana Millers' Association at Indianapolis on May 10th and two circulars containing the law and information regarding it have also been published.

Additional information concerning the Feeding Stuff Control law will be found in the Director's report, page 7.

The work of the Fertilizer Control has been carried on as in previous years. Our deputies visited all the counties in the State where fertilizer is sold and secured samples.

Five hundred and fifty-one samples were secured in the fall of 1906 and the results of the analyses of these samples were published in Bulletin No. 121. Three hundred and fifty-four samples were secured in the spring of 1907 and the reports of the analyses will soon be available for distribution to the manufacturer and consumer.

A careful estimate of the sales of fertilizer in 1906 shows that for the year the sales were 13.571 tons in excess of those for 1905,