10 Report of the President. 



ment of agronomy, which is endeavoring to grow some easily digested 

 food of proper composition to take the place of western grains and 

 by-products. Likewise the extension work has comprised the analyses " 

 of samples of lime, fertilizers, feeds, soil, weed destroyer, apples, 

 etc., all in response to requests from various parts of the State. 

 During the coming year this department will make a study of the 

 conditions under which the oat crop has failed in different sections 

 of the State. 



VI. The botanical division of the Federal Experiment Station has 

 continued its investigations into the culture of mushrooms and its 

 studies of the higher fungi, and a large correspondence has been 

 carried on mth persons about the State seeking aid in the determina- 

 tion of species. Special research work has included a study of the 

 embryology and development of the common mushroom, investiga- 

 tions as to whether the substance of the fleshy fimgi possesses any 

 food value for the higher plants after decay, and the determination of 

 the life histories of several parasitic fungi affecting fruits and vegeta- 

 bles. The chief lines of investigation in the State extension division 

 of this department have concerned the nature and cause of blight 

 canker of apple trees and methods of destroying it, the diseases of 

 ginseng, the alfalfa leaf spot, and bean diseases, and many valuable 

 results have been secured. 



There remain for report certain lines of activity which are main- 

 tained exclusively by the State appropriation for the promotion of 

 agricultural knowledge, namely, the extension courses in dairying, 

 nature study, and general agriculture for farmers, farmers' wives, 

 school children, and school teachers throughout the State. 



VII. The short \\dnter-course in dairying (State extension work) 

 was attended last winter by ninety-one regular students coming from 

 thirty different coimties of this State, and from two neighboring States 

 (students from other States pay tuition), and by thirty-one students 

 from the short general agricultural course. The practical value of 

 these short courses is very strongly illustrated by the reports of 

 students who attended the dairy course a year ago, practically every 

 one of these students stating that upon the completion of the course 

 they obtained positions of greater responsibility and larger salary 

 than those they had held before entering the course. During the 

 season, 108 visits were made to factories of former dairy-course 

 students throughout the State and their work criticized, such inspec- 

 tions being considered a very valuable supplement to the dairy -course 

 itself. On the experimental side, the sources of milk contamination 

 have been studied and some valuable results have been obtained. 



