192 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



effect of difl'erent litter upon the presence of white diarrhea among 

 brooder chicks. 



The analysis of flat turnips as a means of determining the lack of 

 phosphoric acid in the soils upon which they were grown Avas con- 

 tinued at the station and in other sections of the State, the station 

 being assisted in this work by the Rhode Island Experimental Union. 



The influence of sodium salts upon the constituents of plants was 

 studied as in previous years. Some of the more recent field results 

 have been published and other detailed phases of the more scientific 

 side of the investigation have been reported in several of the recent 

 annual reports. Out of this work there was developed an investiga- 

 tion on the efi^ect of the varying nitrogen content of seed potato tubers 

 upon the crop yield. A special study was made the past season of 

 the possible eifect exerted by sodium salts upon the total sugar and 

 reducing sugar in the mangel-wurzel. 



A study of physical soil factors and various chemicais in their rela- 

 tion to the growth of vegetables and flowering plants under glass 

 was continued in the greenhouse with roses and carnations. Different 

 forms of jihosphorus and potash, sphagnum moss, clover, stable ma- 

 nure, and other substances were used. 



Field and pot experiments were conducted in studying the physio- 

 logical effect of sodium salts arid the relation of iron and other com- 

 pounds to toxic conditions of certain soils. Some of these substances 

 were used in different amounts on rye and barley in pot experiments, 

 and special attention was given to a study of the soil solutions. 



The study of laws goA'erning the breeding of domestic birds in- 

 cluded work Avith pigeons, with special reference to morphological 

 and phj^siological characters, hybridization work, which resulted in 

 one new pheasant fowl hybrid, the father being an English ring- 

 neck and the mother a buff silky bantam, and an investigation of the 

 cause of barring in the Plymouth Rock breed. Studies were also 

 continued on the inheritance of the ability to lay large or small eggs. 



The study of lime and magnesia requirements of plants included 

 work upon six plats upon which ground limestone, ground mag- 

 nesian limestone, slaked lime, and slaked magnesian lime were com- 

 pared. Where these forms of lime Avere used before seeding there 

 was in all cases a fine stand of timothy and clover Avith but very little 

 redtop, but Avhere the same complete fertilizer was used without lime 

 the crop of 1911 Avas almost absolutely redtop of good size. These 

 results Avere secured in the preliminary work, and other determina- 

 tions remain to be made. 



The year's work on fowl cholera inv^oh^ed a biological study of 11 

 organisms secured from cholera-like diseases in poultry. This work 

 established a basis for immunological studies, Avhich Avere undertaken 



