OKLAHOMA. 119 



OKLAHOMA. 



Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, Infill water. 



Department uf Oklalioiim AKrieiiltural and Mecbauical College. 



John Fields, H. S., JUrcctor. 



GENERAL OUTLOOK. 



The difVorent departments of the Oklahoma Station have made 

 substantial progress during the year. The bacteriologist and veteri- 

 narian has fom})leted his bacteriological studies of drinking water for 

 both man and beast, making a comparison of well water and that from 

 ponds and windmill tanks. He has also been studying the artificial 

 impr(\o:nation of mares, and the biology of the organisms of root 

 tubercles on soy beans, alfalfa, and crimson clover. The agricul- 

 turist is breeding up a small herd of native dairy cows, and conduct- 

 ing feeding experiments wiih steers (PI. VI, fig. 1), using Kafir corn 

 heads with cotton seed, and comparing ground with unground Kafir 

 corn in connection with whole cotton seed. He is also continuing 

 the field experiments with alfalfa and wheat for pasture, fertilizer 

 experiments with Kafir corn (PL ^'I, fig. 2), rotations, etc. The 

 horticulturist has continued the work outlined last year, and under- 

 taken breeding experiments with currants to secure a strain that 

 will endure the dry winds of Oklahoma, 



The chemist has been making a chemical study of Kafir corn, and 

 has also carried out anah'tical work in connection with the feeding 

 experiments and with the bacteriologist on the nitrogen-gathering 

 bacteria. 



A fertilizer and feeding-stuff law was passed during the winter, 

 providing that the analytical work should be done by the station at 

 a stipulated amount for each sample, the execution of the law to be 

 under the State board of agriculture. The latter also has charge of 

 the nursery-inspection law which was recently passed, and will pay 

 the station men for anj' services they may render. 



The Olvlahonui Station and College have partaken of the prosperity 

 of the Territory and been dealt with generously. The api)ropriation 

 for the college last j'ear was unusually large, including ^Ta.OOO for 

 a building for the departments of agriculture and horticulture, and 

 for administration; $15,000 for additional shops and recitation rooms 

 for engineering; $2,500 for a gymnasium; $.s,000 for acquiring the 

 rights of lessees on the section granted to the college by Congress, 

 and an increase of $5,500 per annum in the maintenance fund. The 

 popularity of the station is said to be responsible for a large share 

 of this increase. 



The station is devoting itself to the leading agricultural pi-ol)hMns 

 and the development of new liue^ of farming. It is being wisely and 



