FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 37 



ments on potatoes aud we have one man who devotes all of his time 

 from early spring until this time of year on extension work traveling 

 aronnd, promoting better methods of potatoe culture, and in the winter 

 helping in the greenhouse with vegetable production. 



Then, there is special work being done on cover crops. Everybody 

 that has been doing this has pronounced views on the subject. So yon 

 will pardon me for having a few ideas of my own. I want to say hera 

 that I do not think that there is any best cover crop. Each cover crop 

 of commercial advantage has its special advantage, otherwise it would 

 not be important. I have arrived at the conclusion that in most cases 

 there is no one crop that is ideal, eveai for any particular casie, but 

 usually it is a question of cover crop combination. As we have a vari- 

 ety of grass seed in growing lawns — we don't use just one kind but we 

 combine them — so I think the question of cover crops is only a teanpor- 

 ary proposition at most. AVe want some that are slow in starting, 

 others that are quick, to act as protection should be used. So if we 

 want to grow the most fibre in our soil we must come to the cover croj) 

 combination and this we have been testing out. Ii^nfortunately the soil 

 conditions which we have at the College are not the same as in the peach 

 belts, and that is why we are carrying on these experiments at differ- 

 ent places. 



We are carrying on very interesting storage experiments. A year ago 

 as the fruit ripened — cherries, goose-berries, etc., they were placed in a 

 cold storage plant at a temperature of sixteen degrees and later at vari- 

 ous times we took them out and handed them over to the economic De- 

 partment and had them make cooking tests. We have included sweet 

 corn which when it comes out looks just as fresh as when it went in, 

 but had a very peculiar flavor. With currents, sour cherries, rasp- 

 berries, and gooseberries we have been very successful.. The material 

 while still frozen is put in cold water and then cooked up. These ex- 

 periments seem to indicate that the time is not far distant when the 

 commercial consumers such as packers, hotels, etc., instead of canning 

 their fruits, will be buying them in season, putting them in cold storage 

 and taking them out and cooking them instead of canning them. We 

 have also been successful with ]>lums and some of the other fruits. 

 We worked Avith asparagus and found that we could put the butts in 

 the cold storage at 32 degrees, and when they came out they had just 

 as good appearance and the cooking qualities were all right. 



Q. Is there any bulletin published on potato culture? 



Prof. Hallagan : There have been . some leaflets published at the 

 station on Potato Culture — on the spraying of potatoes and on the best 

 methods of doing it. I don't know whether or not the Bulletin on 

 Potato Culture printed two or tliree years ago is exhausted or not. 



A Member: Have you arrived at any results in these experiments 

 3^ou have made? 



Prof. Hallagan: I cannot say that we have; we do not have any 

 definite data as it is only tAvo or three years since we have been doing 

 it. It will take eight or ten years to arrive at any definite conclusion 

 on the subject of potato culture and the experiments we are carrying 

 forward, are not at the college. 



