MISSOURI. 141 



dry year. In connection with this investigation a study was made 

 of the osmotic strength and freezing point of sap as influenced by 

 fertilizers and as related to the dormant period. 



A preliminary report was prepared, giving some o:^ the results 

 secured in the investigations on the powdery mildews, and the work 

 was continued during the season. Attention was mostly given to 

 the mildews of wheat and barley to determine susceptibility and the 

 relation of light and other factors to infection. 



In the project on immunizing hogs against cholera and swine 

 plague a study was made of the blood in relation to its immunizing 

 power. Blood of normal, diseased, and hyperimmune hogs was used 

 and its relation to determining the potency of serum was considered. 



The work conducted under Hatch and other funds was very ex- 

 tensive and nearly every department was represented in it. In 

 animal husbandry attention was given to summer feeding of cattle 

 and the results of five years' work published. Data were collected 

 on wintering cattle, feeding silage to beef animals, and other feeding 

 problems. A rotation of forage crops for pork production, includ- 

 ing blue grass, clover, rape and oats, corn and cowpeas, and rye was 

 tested, and the cost of production for each crop or combination was 

 worked out. Attention was further given to the influence of feeding 

 on the condition of cattle at the beginning of the feeding period. 

 Experiments with nitrogenous supplements fed with corn showed 

 them to be more efficient and profitable when fed during the latter 

 part of the feeding period than when fed continuously throughout. 

 Observations were also made on the comparative profitableness of 

 fattening j^earlings and 2 and 3 year old cattle. A mule-feeding ex- 

 periment was begun, and experiments in feeding early lambs were 

 carried on. 



The department of agronomy conducted work in corn breeding for 

 high and low protein, studied barrenness in cornstalks, tested varie- 

 ties of corn, and carried on wheat-breeding and selection experiments. 

 Several crossbred wheats have been produced that are more produc- 

 tive than either parent, one variety, Missouri 44, having averaged 8 

 bushels more per acre than the two parent sorts. Variety tests of 

 soy beans and cowpeas were in progress, and experiments with alfalfa 

 were conducted at the station and at a number of other localities. 

 Soil-management work was pursued on outlying experiment fields 

 to determine the fertilizer treatment required, showing that for the 

 majority of soils in the State nitrogen and phosphoric acid were the 

 limiting factors of crop production. Corn-breeding work was car- 

 ried on at the station by the ear-to-row method. 



The department of horticulture, in a comparison of fall and spring 

 planting of fruit trees and ornamentals, secured results favorable to 

 fall planting. Tests were also made of Ben Davis and Grimes 



