NOTEWORTHY RESULTS OF STATION WORK. 81 



In one county of the State of Missouri corn yields have been in- 

 creased 16-^ bushels per acre and clover yields If tons per acre by the 

 application of results discovered by the station. Good soil manage- 

 ment on one of the experiment fields increased the clover yield from 

 one-half ton to 2 tons per acre and the net profit by $G. On the soil- 

 experiment fields in southwestern Missouri the station has shown 

 that corn may be increased from 20 to 45 bushels per acre and wheat 

 12 bushels per acre. In soil experiments carried on in northeastern 

 Missouri the yield of wheat was increased by 50 bushels per acre, 

 with a coiTesponding increase in the net profit. 



The results of the timothy-breeding experiments at the New York 

 Cornell station are becoming apparent. Some very marked hay and 

 pasture strains have been developed. 



What is probably the largest fruit-breeding station in the world 

 is well under way in Minnesota. The object is to secure hardiness 

 and resistance to several prevalent diseases, and the extensive and 

 systematic scheme which is followed promises valuable results. The 

 very large amount of material now growing furnishes opportunity 

 for extensive breeding studies. 



The fruit-breeding work of the South Dakota station has resulted 

 in obtaining hybrid varieties from the Japan and De Soto plums and 

 the native sand cherry. Three promising crosses have also been se- 

 cured by the union of the native plum and the Chinese apricot. Two 

 new hybrids, of which the sand cherry is the female parent and the 

 De Soto plum the male parent, were sent out in the spring of 1910. 



A monograph of the plums of North America has been completed 

 by the New York State station, based on its extensive and long-con- 

 tinued studies of varieties. This work is on a scale comparable with 

 the excellent monographs on apples and grapes, previously issued. 



At the Anzona station it has been found that elate ripening may 

 be hastened by spraying the immature fruit with a solution of acetic 

 acid, thus causing choice varieties to ripen in that region. In a study 

 of tuberization at the same station, greening the tubers prior to plant- 

 ing resulted in the formation of a larger and better crop. Checking 

 the growth of tops by any means had a similar effect. 



The experiments on the effect of high pressures on preserving 

 fruits and fruit juices, which have been in progress at the West Vir- 

 ginia station for a number of years, have been completed, and it has 

 been found that high pressures, continuous or intermittent, and at 

 natural tempei-ature or in connection with heat, destroy the organ- 

 isms responsible for the spoiling of canned fruits, etc. 



Attempts to breed poultry for high egg production have resulted, 

 in many disappointments. The cause of this, as the Maine station 

 has shown, lies not in the fact that high production is not trans- 



91866°— 11 6 



