96 REPoirr OF office of expekimfnt stations. 



stock have been provided with a State appropriation. 'J'ho lines of 

 investig:ation have been simihir to those outlined in previous reports. 

 The entoinoloi^ist of the station has continued his investipitions on 

 the life liistory of grasshoppers, strawberry crown o;irdler, and sev- 

 eral other insects. The strawberry crown jj^irdler has become very 

 trouI)lesonie locally, and a bulletin •j^ivin*; su<r^ested methods of con- 

 trol has been issued. The entom()l()<;ist. found, in studying the life 

 history of the blister beetles, that while the adults are destructive to 

 alfalfa, sugar beets, etc., in the young stages they live very largely on 

 grasshopper eggs. 



Notable among the new^ investigations undertaken are those with a 

 herd of dairy cows in the production and utilization of milk, a new- 

 series of rotation experiments, tests of nuiny varieties of alfalfa, and 

 tests of sugar beets in cooperation with farmers. Farmers are also 

 lending their aid in the loco studies with sheej) conducted in cooper- 

 ation with the Bureau of Plant Industry of this Department and the 

 dry farming experiments in cooperation with the Northern Pacific 

 Railway. The State legislature gave $1,000 for the dry-farming 

 experiments and continued the $5,000 maintenance appropriation and 

 the $4,000 farmers' institute appropriation. The director is in charge 

 of farmers' institutes and nearly all members of the staff assist in the 

 work. The irrigation engineer resigned during the year and has been 

 succeeded by E. T. Tannatt. 



The requests received for cooperative investigations are greater 

 than the station can undertake, showing that the feeling toward the 

 station continues to be most cordial. The new" buildings provided for 

 by the last legislature have been completed and add greatly to the 

 cqui]:)ment of the station. These additions and the reorganization of 

 the staff w'ill enable the station to give consideration to a number of 

 lines of investigations that have heretofore been onl}^ partly covered. 



LINES OF AVORK. 



The princijoal lines of work conducted at the Montana Station 

 during the past year were as follows: Chemistry — study of alkali 

 soils, alkali limit of plant growth, poisonous plants, effect of various 

 rotations on soils, sugar-beet investigations, food inspection, and mis- 

 cellaneous analytical work; meteorology; botany; field experi- 

 ments — rotations, improvement of cereals, cooperative sugar-beet 

 tests, test of grasses and forage crops, and dry-farming experiments; 

 horticulture — orchard and small fruits and forest trees; feeding 

 experiments — cattle and sheep; poultry experiments; entomology — 

 grasshoppers and other insects affecting fruits, vegetables, and shade 

 trees; dairying; irrigation — dut}' of water, losses by evaporation, 

 seepage, methods of application, study of water rights, and plant 



