106 EEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



In the project on the moisture content of butter the experiments 

 have extended over a period of four years and were practically con- 

 cluded during the past season. The controllable and uncontrollable 

 factors in butter making were studied in connection with feeding 

 experiments. It was found that an excess of soft fats and large fat 

 globules take up a comparatively large amount of moisture in churn- 

 ing, and this is believed to be beyond control ; while temperature in 

 churning, pasteurization, and working and washing the butter are 

 factors which ma}^ be regulated by the butter maker. 



The project on the pasteurization of gathered cream in relation to 

 bacterial flora and keeping quality of butter progressed as originally 

 outlined. The plan is to investigate what pasteurizing temperature 

 will produce the best quality of butter at the different seasons of the 

 year, and the work involves the making of butter from raw cream and 

 cream pasteurized at various temperatures, the bacteriological study 

 of the cream and of the butter made therefrom when fresh and after 

 several months of storage, a chemical study of the butter when fresh 

 and after being stored, and the judging and scoring of the product. 

 In connection with this work studies were made of analytical methods 

 used in butter analysis for the purpose of determining their accuracy. 



Many lines of station work were carried out with Hatch and other 

 funds. The crop work under agronomy embraced various variety, 

 cultural, and breeding experiments. Breeding and selection was 

 practiced with wheat, corn, barley, oats, and soy beans. With corn, 

 also, experiments in suckering and detasseling were carried on, but 

 the results did not show that these practices were profitable. Ten 

 corn-breeding plats in different sections of the State were conducted 

 for the purpose of securing varieties suited to different localities. 

 The wheat-breeding work has reached a stage where some of the 

 strains are being multiplied. The experiments with oats included a 

 test of 55 crosses secured from this department. The rotation and 

 fertilizer experiments in progress for many years were continued, 

 and work on three test fields devoted to soil improvement on more 

 or less depleted soils in different parts of the State was carried on. 

 Cooperative work was conducted on fertilizers for particular crops 

 or soils, and pot and field experiments were in progress with fer- 

 tilizers for potatoes on three different soil types. Other lines of 

 endeavor included liming experiments, cooperative pasture experi- 

 ments to determine the most satisfactory mixtures of grasses for 

 pastures, and work with farmers in establishing alfalfa fields. 



The horticulturist conducted orchard-management experiments in 

 an apple orchard set out by him for that purpose on land leased for 

 15 years. One of the objects of this work is to test clean culture 

 with cover crops as compared with sod, cutting the grass, and leaving 

 it on the ground. -The influence of these methods of orchard man- 



