NEBRASKA. 147 



erected a residence at a cost of $4,550, a gravity water system at 

 $2,000, and concrete sheds and hog houses and minor buildings at 

 $3,500. The State appropriated $15,000 for a new substation, $15,000 

 for the erection and operation of a serum plant at the main station, 

 $5,000 for the station entomologist as State entomologist, and $3,000 

 for the station botanist as State botanist, $35,000 for agricultural 

 extension, and $85,000 for a new building for agricultural botany, 

 horticulture, and entomology. Since the close of the fiscal year J. H. 

 Frandson was placed in charge of dairy husbandry and C. W. Pugsley 

 in charge of agricultural extension and farm management. 



No new Adams fund projects were entered upon during the year, 

 but progress in the established lines of work was reported. The rela- 

 tion of conformation and quality to gaining capacity was studied in 

 six groups of 8 steers each, comprising rough and smooth types and 

 specimens from dairy breeds. Rations were fed to compare different 

 sources of protein, and the effects of the use of clover in place of silage 

 when fed with corn and alfalfa were observed. Individual records 

 were kept of the feed consumed and the gains made. About 40 calves 

 were reared under similar conditions for use in the investigation. 



Work on the effect of soil moisture on winter injury of fi'uit trees 

 was limited to walnut, peach, and apple trees. The degree of low 

 temperature at which fruit trees are injured was studied, and its in- 

 fluence on the upward flow of the sap was investigated. Special 

 apparatus was constructed for the determinations. Some work along 

 this line was also done with raspberries. 



In connection with the project on heredity in plants, color inheri- 

 tance in beans and corn, and latent inheritance in crossing black and 

 white beans were studied. Observations were made on the color and 

 the shape of both the plant and kernels in corn, together with corre- 

 lation studies. Some work along this line was also done with gourds, 

 balsams, nasturtiums, snapdragons, portulacas, geraniums, and 

 petunias. 



The plant-disease project included an investigation of a new form 

 of dry rot of potatoes discovered in western Nebraska and the study 

 of the life history of the causative organism. It was found that this 

 dry rot is largely a storage trouble and that the fungus can only affect 

 tubers which have been injured. Work was also pursued on bundle 

 blackening of the potato and on potato scab. 



In studying the composition of humus as affected by climate, 

 samples were examined from the western half of the United States 

 and Canada. These samples, studied under a method worked out bj' 

 the station, showed that no soils in the humid or semiarid regions of 

 Nebraska have a high percentage of nitrogen in the humus. The 

 influence of different methods of cropping in this relation and the 



