178 EEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



received more attention than in previous years and preparations 

 were made for the establishment of a wool laboratorv and scouring 

 plant. 



The work of the department of botany was continued during the 

 past year as outlined in the previous report. It included the exami- 

 nation of seeds for purity .and germination, the identification of 

 weeds, with suggestions for weed control, an investigation of plant 

 diseases and methods for their control, and plant-breeding work 

 with tobacco and . certain wheat hybrids. Some definite results 

 secured in the weed-spraying work were published in Circular 102. 

 This department also published Bulletins 228 and 229, both dealing 

 with plant diseases. Attention was also given to the canker dis- 

 eases affecting apple and pear trees and to diseases of forest and 

 shade trees. Plant-breeding work on tobacco was continued in co- 

 operation with this department. 



The department of entomology supervised the spraying of 125 

 acres or more of bearing orchards and made observations on the cost 

 of spraying, the increase in yield, and the improvement in quality. 

 Observations were also made on the efficiency of different spraying 

 materials and their adaptation to the different orchard fruits. The 

 studies of this department further included mill insects, bark beetles, 

 wheat jointworm, the Hessian fly, chinch bug, insects attacking the 

 sugar beet, the sod webworm, and the woolly aphis. Some of the re- 

 sults of this work have already been made public. 



The de]Dartment of forestry', which has a special annual appropria- 

 tion of $19,400. Avorked on a forest survey of the State, cooperated 

 with State institutions in the improvement of existing forests and 

 the establishment of new plants, and continued to extend nursery 

 plantings and the distribution of trees. 



The department of horticulture gave attention chiefly to the solu- 

 tion of problems in apple culture. In the station orchards varieties 

 were studied and work in spraying, thinning, and cultural methods 

 was carried on at the same time. A closely planted apple orchard 

 of early bearing sorts and an orchard of dwarf apples were set out. 

 The work of this department in rejuvenation of old orchards was 

 partly reported upon in Bulletins 217 and 224. Orchard heating was 

 given attention and results determining the practicability of such 

 work were secured. Plant breeding Avas carried on with vegetables, 

 both in the greenhouse and in the garden, and the collections of orna- 

 mental trees, shrubs, and other plants on the station grounds were 

 increased. 



During the past year the department of nutrition published in 

 Bulletin 222 the results of a study of the mineral nutrients in blue 

 grass, showing that the differences in mineral imtrients were due to 

 differences in the soils upon which the grasses were grown. It Avas 



