KANSAS. 75 



be distributed amono: farmers of the State. Soy beans are in the 

 third year of experiment, and a race of nonshattering beans has 

 been secured. The station continues to cooperate with the Bureau 

 of Phint Industry of this Department in the testing and improving 

 of cereals on leased land at McPherson. The station is also cooper- 

 ating with this Office in irrigation from wells at Fort Hays. In 

 the horticultural department a special study is being made of vege- 

 tables suitable for canning, the maximum productive capacity of 

 50 square feet of land in garden truck, the cost of spraying, improv- 

 ing of native fruits, and the eifect of fertilizers on the quality of 

 strawberries. Important additions have been made to the equipment 

 for work in animal husbandry, and a number of experiments in 

 butter and cheese making and in beef production have been made. 

 Feeding and. performance tests with leading breeds of chickens have 

 been undertaken in cooperation with an organization of poultry 

 raisers. 



At Fort Hays over 600 acres are now being used for farming oper- 

 ations, including tests of cereals and forage plants, fruits, ever- 

 greens, forest trees, etc. The appropriation provided for this work 

 in 1906 is $11,300 and for 1907 $8,500. With improved organization 

 and management the branch station at Fort Plays can do work of 

 great value in the study of the agricultural problems typical of the 

 extensive semiarid region of the United States. 



The State legislature at its last session dealt liberally with the 

 college and station, appropriating $50,000 for a horticultural build- 

 ing with greenhouses and equipment, $4,000 for a granary, $16,000 

 for other improvements, $90,000 for maintenance in 1906, and 

 $100,000 for 1907. The station is doing much useful work, and a 

 recent resolution passed by the board of regents gives promise of ma- 

 terially strengthening the organization of the station. By this reso- 

 lution the duties of the director are extended and the functions of 

 the council are better defined. The director is to have immediate 

 charge of all the work of the station, including that of the branch 

 station, and be held responsible for its execution. He is also to have 

 charge of the expenditures of the station, the publications, and other 

 business matters. Reports are to be made to the board annually, and 

 a plan of the work and the expenditures for the year is to be submit- 

 ted each spring. The new plan will materially strengthen the organ- 

 ization of the station. 



LINES OK WORK. 



The principal lines of Avork conducted at the Kansas Station 

 during the past year were as follows : Chemistry — studies of cereals, 

 soils, eggs, cattle dips, etc.; soils — moisture determinations, bacterio- 

 logical investigations; horticulture — interpollinating apples, select- 



