NEW YORK. 163 



the corrosive sublimate treatment of cabbage seed for the prevention 

 of black rot. This department also did considerable work in testing 

 seeds, particularly alfalfa and clover seed, and studying various plant 

 diseases to which attention was called from time to time. 



The horticulturist continued work on the series of fruit mono- 

 graphs, which he has undertaken, and collected material for such 

 monographs on peach, pear, and cherry. Plantations of many 

 varieties of orchard and small fruits were maintained for study in 

 this connection and for other purposes, such as the study of individual 

 variations, breeding, and crossing. Improved varieties of apples de- 

 veloped by the station were distributed to some extent. Crosses of 

 apples of the European and American types have been made with 

 some promising results. Experiments in orchard culture and with 

 fertilizers were continued, and extensive tests were made of the merits 

 of budding apj)les from trees of known good quality. Tests of strains 

 of Baldwin apples from 104 nurserymen were in progress. Experi- 

 ments in crossing tomatoes were about completed, and variety and 

 cultural tests with strawberries were reported upon during the year 

 in Bulletin 336 and were continued. 



The work of the entomologist was centered mainly on fruit insects, 

 particularly those of the apple, pear, and grape as reported in Bulle- 

 tin 331, and including the California thrips, the pear-tree psylla, the 

 grape thrips, and Fidia. Attention was also given to the injury to 

 pears due to a species of insect related to the tarnished plant bug. 

 Tests of homemade concentrated lime-sulphur mixture and of screen- 

 ing as a protection against cabbage maggots were reported upon dur- 

 ing the year in Bulletins 330 and 334, and studies of the life history 

 of some cambium miners and of the apple and pear membracids were 

 reported in Technical Bulletins 15 and 17. An effective method of 

 controlling the pear psylla was worked out. Considerable field Avork 

 on insecticides and other methods of control was in progress, the work 

 on grape insects being done largely in the Chautauqua grape district. 



The station conducted feeding experiments with poultry to ascer- 

 tain the relative importance of certain mineral nutrients and carried 

 on breeding experiments to determine the effect of selection and in- 

 breeding on egg production. 



The miscellaneous lines of work of the station included inspection 

 of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, insecticides and fungicides, and dairy 

 glassware, cooperative fertilizer experiments on potatoes, dairy herd 

 tests and selection, and experiments on the effect of fertilizers on the 

 yield and quality of tobacco in cooperation with this department. A 

 large number of cooperative experiments, including experiments with 

 alfalfa, in potato spraying, on currant cane blight, cabbage black rot, 

 potato scab, leaf blister mite, Hessian fly, tarnished plant bug, grapes 



