218 KEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The investigation on the function of sulphur as a plant food during 

 the past year included greenhouse and laboratory work for tl^e pur- 

 pose of determining what plants or classes of plants will grow and 

 mature in a soil medium containing all the necessary plant foods 

 except sulphur; the possibility of eliminating sulphur from plant 

 tissues by growing the crop successively on a sulphur-free soil; the 

 relation of varying amounts of sulphur fed to plants to their normal 

 composition; the depletion of the supply of available sulphur in a 

 naturally fertile soil by successive heavy cropping with plants having 

 a high sulphur content; the sulphur-nitrogen-phosphorus ratio in 

 plants throughout different stages of growth and its uniformity from 

 the same type of crop ; and the accuracy of present methods of analysis 

 for the purpose of quantitative investigations. 



The study of bud weevils soon after its inauguration showed a 

 whole series of unsuspected insects destroying buds of fruit trees. 

 Material for the rearing of these insects and studying their life his- 

 tories was collected and the insects w^ere reared for study. Satisfac- 

 tory progress was made on the study of the ground squirrel in a 

 series of specially prepared pens in w'hich several families of each of 

 three species were reared for the purpose of securing accurate <iata 

 as to their life history. 



In the work on the Mendelism of hybrids of blackberries and rasp- 

 berries two field plantings of these hybrids were made for the pur- 

 230se of studying leaf characters, procumbent habits, and the relation 

 of fruiting to leaf character. Progress was also made in the investi- 

 gation of the winter desiccation of fruit trees. It was found that 

 four distinct pathological conditions exist which heretofore have been 

 attributed to the same cause. An effort was made to differentiate 

 these conditions, and orchard and laboratory studies of their indi- 

 vidual causes were undertaken. 



The veterinarian in the investigation of hemoglobinuria in cattle 

 made blood and urine examinations and post-mortem studies of dis- 

 eased animals and also studied the lesions of the bladder to determine 

 the probable cause. Transmission experiments by blood inoculation 

 gave negative results, and attempts to produce gi'owth from the 

 bladder lesions upon artificial media also proved unsuccessful. Per- 

 nicious anemia in horses was successfully transmitted from diseased 

 to healthy horses by blood inoculation, but microscopic examinations 

 of the blood have as yet failed to show the causative agent of the 

 disease. Inoculated animals made a complete recovery, and the blood 

 from these animals was found to be inocuous to healthy horses. 



Under Hatch and other funds the chemist did considerable analyti- 

 cal work on soils and farm products in connection wuth various lines 

 of station work. 



