122 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



station's flock, and that by isolating these lines and breeding them 

 pure it will be possible to establish a strain in which high produc- 

 tion is a fixed characteristic. The results secured with the second 

 and third generations were prepared for publication. A study of 

 the factors concerned in egg production progressed well toward com- 

 pletion. A detailed study of the microscopical structure of the ovi- 

 duct of the hen was made, and the time of the formation of the 

 watery albumin, to some degree a nonnal constituent of all hen's 

 eggs, with reference to the formation of other parts of the egg, 

 was determined. These fundamental scientific studies carried on 

 by the station for some years have enabled the institution to give 

 out information of important practical bearing regarding the origin 

 and control of various factors influencing the market quality of eggs. 

 The experiments in reciprocal crossing of breeds of poultry were 

 continued, with good results. The manner in which a number of 

 the characters of the fowl are inherited has been worked out in 

 detail and the first report of these studies was published in Bulletin 

 179 of the station. 



The accumulated data on the interrelation of apple diseases were 

 summarized and published during the year. An apple rot caused by 

 a new and undescribed fungiis. belonging to a class not before 

 reported from America, was described in a technical paper. 



In connection with the study of variation in fungi, as the result 

 of environment, 3 different Fusarium forms were isolated from 

 apples and about 25 other forms from other plants. These fungi 

 were grown in different culture media for comparison, and a large 

 portion of the data was held ready for publication. 



The entomological research work made good progress, and several 

 publications were issued. The investigation of fungus gnats was 

 completed during the year. About 300 species have been studied 

 and all the important economic phases of the problem were covered. 

 The species of gnats especially affecting cultivated plants were bred 

 for the purpose of study. In the work on plant lice a form on alder 

 and maple trees was studied, and pea and potato aphids were com- 

 pared for structural characters. Considerable preliminary work was 

 done in studying the early stages of economic species of Diptera, 

 Psyllidae. and the native hymenopterous and dipterous parasites 

 destructive to injurious insects of Maine. 



The field work of the station under the Hatch fund was largely 

 carried on at Highmoor, where improvements in renovating orchards 

 and in getting the fairn into shape for various other lines of experi- 

 mental work were actively pursued. A seedling orchard of over 

 2,000 French crab and about 1,000 Tolman Sweet root-grafted scions 

 was set out for a long-time stock and scion experiment. Experi- 

 ments with the apple carried on cooperatively by the horticultural 



