NEW YORK. 165 



Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca. 

 Department of New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University. 



L. H. Bailey, M. S., LL. D., Director. 



Considerable progress was made at the Cornell station during the 

 year in improvement of equipment and development of work. A 

 number of changes in personnel occurred, and the pomological work 

 of the station was organized as a separate department. The construc- 

 tion of the poultry building, for which the last legislature appro- 

 priated $90,000, was begun, and a complete system of drainage of the 

 experimental farm was undertaken. There was a large increase in 

 the number of industrial fellowships established during the year, 

 especially in plant pathology, in which there are now 12. The men 

 holding these fellowships spend the winter months at the station 

 doing laboratory work on special topics assigned to them, and in the 

 spring go into the field to study the practical side of the question. In 

 case of plant-disease studies quite complete temporary field labora- 

 tories have been established in a number of instances. 



The Adams fund work of the station proceeded regularly. There 

 was no material change in the general plan of the plant-breeding 

 work, the most important feature of which continues to be the study 

 and development of timothy. This work involved an elaborate study 

 of the range of variation and of the biotypes of this grass. Some of 

 the new types secured bid fair to be of great value for general culti- 

 vation. A test of 19 different new sorts gave an average increase per 

 acre of 851 pounds over the best ordinary, timothy obtainable. Ex- 

 periments in potato breeding were continued as in previous years. 

 Results of the last four years' work show marked variations in pure 

 tuber lines and indicate striking possibilities in this line. 



The study of methods of breeding oats, tests of value of hybridiza- 

 tion versus selection in oat breeding, the cumulative action of selec- 

 tion, and the factors necessary to hardiness in winter-oat varieties 

 were carried on. Experiments were also made on the cumulative 

 action of selection in wheat. Other phases of the laws of inheritance 

 in hybridization were studied with tomatoes, peppers, phlox, and 

 other plants. Valuable results were accumulated, particularly with 

 reference to inheritance of characters in tomatoes, peppers, and phlox. 

 Certain phases of the relation of mutations and variations to breeding 

 were studied with various plants, primarily wnth silene, corn, timothy, 

 daisy, Stellaria, and many wild plants. Studies of the influence of 

 environment in producing variations of importance in species and 

 variety formation were continued with various cultivated and wild 

 plants, particularly wheat and peas. 



