30 Director's Repokt of the 



was 20.8 per ct. Analyses were made, also, of 975 unofficial samples 

 sent in by farmers and seed dealers. The analyses were reported in 



Bulletin No. 378. 



Potato-spraying experiments at Rush.— Bulletin No. 379 contains 

 an account of an extensive series of potato-spraying experiments con- 

 ducted in the vicinity of Rush during the summer of 1913. In each 

 of 66 fields a portion of one row 290.5 feet long was very thoroughly 

 sprayed by hand every two weeks. At digging time the yield of this 

 row was compared with that of an adjacent row which had not re- 

 ceived the special spraying. In 47 fields no spraying was done by 

 the owner. In these fields the test was a comparison between very 

 thorough spraying and no spraying. In the other 19 fields more or 

 less spraying was done by the owner. In these, the test was a com- 

 parison between very thorough spraying and the kind of spraying 

 done by the owner. 



In the 46" unsprayed fields the spraying done by the Station in- 

 creased the average yield by 17.76 bushels per acre and in the 19 

 sprayed fields by 15.04 bushels per acre. 



The season was a very dry one and there was no potato blight. 



CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



Inspection work.— There have been published analyses of 480 com- 

 mercial feeding stuffs and 1004 commercial fertilizers. A study of the 

 data relating to fertilizers shows that the number of samples falling 

 seriously below guaranty is small, the average of all analyses showing 

 an excess of plant-food constituents over guaranty. High-grade 

 fertilizers are shown to furnish plant-food constituents at less cost 

 than low-grade fertilizers. Some defects are pointed out in the pres- 

 ent fertilizer law, working against the interests of the purchasers of 

 fertilizers, especially in case of unmixed materials containing a high 

 percentage of plant-food. 



Studies relating to the chemistry of milk.— During the entire history 

 of this Station, special attention has been given to some phase of 

 dairy chemistry. The recent work has had for its purpose the 

 clearing up of certain points in the chemistry of milk, some of which 

 have a special relation to the use of milk in human nutrition and some 

 of which are intimately connected with the fundamental processes of 

 cheese-making. In the near future a bulletin will be issued bringing 

 together all the chemical facts which have been worked out here and 



