l'.)4 KKrnK'r (»K OFFICK i>F KXrKKlMP:NT STATIONS, 



CENKKAL OUTLOOK. 



Dmiiij: the \)iis[ tiscal yoar llic Wiishin^toii Station has coiitiimcd its 

 ft)rnu'r liiu'sot' work and (Icvclopcd to a coiisidiMabli' extent investi*»a- 

 tions in a»,'rononiy. A larjiv i)artof tiie station farm is now devoted to 

 these invest i«,mtions, ineludinj,' variety and sprayinj^ experiments with 

 wheat, oats, und fora<i;e crops in lK)th small i)lats and lields. Feeding 

 ex])eriments have been made with cattle, sheep, and pigs, a special fea- 

 ture of the work with i)igs being an etl'ort to determine the effect of cot- 

 tonseed meal in a ration on the (luality of lard produced. There are 

 indications that cotton-seed meal produces a marked effect on the lard. 

 The veterinary work is being developed under a special State appro- 

 priation and attention is being given to a number of diseases giving 

 trouble in diti'erent sections of the State. The veterinarian has also 

 continued studies of plants which are poisonous to stock. The studies 

 on the life history of salmon have Ijeen continued. Irrigation investi- 

 gations in cooperation with this OtHce have been prosecuted actively 

 in the Yakima Valley. The station is also cooperating with the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry of this Department in cereal and forage crop investi- 

 gations and in the improvement of northwestern ranges, and with the 

 Bureau of Chemistry in studying the availal)le plant food in soils. 



The State has made an appropriation of $5, (>()() for the support of 

 farmers' institutes during the next biennium and this work is being 

 developed. It occupies considerable time of the station staff, but is 

 thought to have a good influence in l)ringing the station into closer 

 touch with the farmers. The work at the Puyallup Su])station has 

 been discontinued owing to the fact that the governor vetoed the 

 appi'opriation of $12,000 for this enterprise. At the close of the year 

 the botanist and zoologist resigned and has since been succeeded by 

 the assistant botanist, li. K. Beattie. Some progress has been made 

 during the year in organizing the work of the station more definitely 

 and in improving its facilities. It is at present doing a larger amount 

 of useful work than ever before. 



LINES OF WORK. 



The principal lines of work conducted at the Washington Station 

 during the past year were as follows: Chemistr}'^ — methods of anal3^sis, 

 chemical studies of potatoes and oats, and of fertilizers, foods, and dairy 

 products; botan}" — study of crown gall, black spot, canker, tomato 

 blight, pear blight, grain smuts; bacteriology; soils: — subsoiling and 

 soil treatment; field experiments — tests of grasses for pasture, 

 varieties of oats, barley, emmer, spelt, and einkorn, rotations, time 

 of seeding, sugar beets; horticulture — cover crops and fertilizers for 

 orchards, spraying for apple scab, protection from frost, \arieties of 

 fruits and vegetables, selection of nursery stock; plant breeding — 



