132 KEIMJKT <)!■ OFFICE OF p:XI'EUIMENT STATIONS. 



GENERAL OUTLOOK. 



Tlic Micliinaii Stjilion has coiitiiiiicd to <ii\t' jjioiniriciict' to invosti- 

 j^atioiis with sn«;iir Itccts and h'^uminoits phiiits, but tlic; naturo of the 

 investijifations is such that no results ah)M<r these lines of a positive 

 nature have lieen aiuiounced durinn^ the past year. A dij^estion ex- 

 periment witii su^iu-l)('»'t l)id[) to determine its intluenee on a ration 

 otherwise made up of hay and corn indicated no chanjj^e in the dijjesti- 

 bility of tliese factors. Vetches jrrown at this station show a tendency 

 to hecome dang-erous weeds. In addition to the cultural and varietal 

 experiments with legumes, the study of their root nodules and the 

 bacteria |)eculiar to each legume is occupying the entire time of an 

 assistant l)acteriologist. The entomologist has been giving especial 

 attention to a study of means for controlling the mos<{uito nuisance, 

 and has made some interesting o])servations on an entomophthorous 

 disease of mosquitoes, which lie is now propagating. The veterinarian 

 has successfully used gasoline in the treatment of sheep for intestinal 

 and stomach worms. The ])otanist has made a stud}' of edible fungi, 

 and published a ))ulletin on some of the common sorts. He has also 

 made a classitication of the vetches. Some interesting experiments 

 in greenhouse construction and management are also in i)rogress. 

 These include the construction, drainage, and aeration of beds for 

 forcing tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. In the dair}'^ division the work 

 "with cheese resulted in showing a marked gain from dipping the cheese 

 fresh from the hoop in paraffin. 



Among the recent! v inaugurated investigations are a number of 

 feeding and digestion experiments, studies of poisonous plants and of 

 diseased cattle on the sand}^ areas of Michigan, and experiments with 

 legumes, soil inoculations, and sand-])inding plants. The station is 

 cooperating with a number of farmei's in testing soil inoculations with 

 legumes, in fertilizer, cultural, and variety tests of sugar beets, and 

 in growing soy beans, cowpeas, and alfalfa. It continues to cooperate 

 with the Bureau of Plant Industiy of this Department in experiments 

 with sand-binding grasses along the lake shores, in studying the influ- 

 ence of the origin of red-clover seed on the yield of crop and in growing 

 sugar-beet seed, and with the Bureau of Chemistr}' in the investiga- 

 tion of sugar-beet problems, the gluten content of wheat, and the 

 available plant food in soils. The sul)stations at South Haven and at 

 Chatham have been maintained, as heretofore, with State funds. 



A laboratory with complete etiuipment for the chemical work of the 

 station has been fitted up in the veterinary building. The recently 

 completed bacteiiclogical laboratory (PL IV, fig. 1) provides not onl}'^ 

 an excellent bacteriological ('(juipment for students, but also stalls and 

 hospital w^ards for animals and first-class working lal)oratories for the 

 station bacteriologist and his assistant. A description of the labora- 



