TEXAS. 205 



studies were made with three typical Texas soils in pots and with 

 extracts of these soils to determine the nitrogen-fixing power of 

 PseudomoTias radicicola under different conditions. 



The veterinarian continued work on swamp fever, giving attention 

 mainly to the eflficiency of various remedies and to the means and 

 maimer of transmission of the disease. A report on some of this work 

 was published.^ 



The horticultural work under the Adams fund was confined to 

 breeding experiments with the blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry. 

 Several thousand seedlings were secured to furnish parents for 

 crosses, and about 100 dewberry -blackberry hybrids came into bearing 

 during the year. A large number of dewberry-blackberry and black- 

 berry-raspberry crosses were planted in open ground during the sea- 

 son. This work was partly carried on in cooperation with this de- 

 partment. 



Among different lines of work conducted with the Hatch fund the 

 chemical department of the station continued its systematic chemical 

 study of the soils of the State as well as studies of soil acidity and 

 fertilizer requirements. Examinations of alkali and waters were also 

 continued. The inspection work of this department, which is sepa- 

 rately provided for and so organized that it does not interfere with 

 investigation, included the analysis of about 680 samples of fertilizers 

 and over 1.000 samples of feeding stuffs. 



The work of the department of agriculture included tests of va- 

 rious rotations with and without manure and fertilizers, tests of 

 methods of planting corn, of bur clover as a winter cover crop, of 

 peanuts as a forage crop for hogs, of cowpeas as an intercrop with 

 com, and of studies of the effect of feeding animals on the land 

 and the effect of continuous corn and cotton culture, together with 

 work in the improvement of corn by selection. The department of 

 agriculture of the station has recently been superseded by the de- 

 partment of agronomy, with A. B. Connor in charge. 



The horticulturist tested varieties of apples and conducted experi- 

 ments with a view to overcoming injury to peach trees by nematodes, 

 or crown gall. Tests were also made of a large number of grasses 

 and forage plants to find a perennial pasture plant which will survive 

 the hot, dry summers of the region. Vitis champainii was tested 

 as a hardy stock for grapes. 



The entomological department, among other activities^ made ex- 

 periments with a dry powdered arsenate of lead for the control of 

 the boll weevil and the boll worm, but climatic conditions were some- 

 what unfavorable for this work. The head of the department, as 

 State entomologist, had charge of eradication of foul brood of bees, 



lAmer. Vet. Rev., 39 (1911), No. 2. 



