132 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The comprehensive work of the station on the soil survey of the 

 State, soil fertilitj^, and improvement of soils was continued and 

 extended, and a more certain knowledge of the comparative char- 

 acter of lands in different parts of the State, as based on the results 

 of this work, was gained. A comparison of drilling and broadcast- 

 ing oats, carried on for three years at two j^laces and two j^ears at 

 another showed a net gain in favor of drilling. 



Feeding experiments were made with horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. 

 In a comiDarison of methods of feeding short-fed steers, the use of 

 chopped hay mixed with the grain and fed through a self-feeder 

 gave more rapid gains and at slightly less cost per pound than when 

 the same feeds were fed separateh^ twice per day. In studying 

 the relative efficiency of different rations for fattening horses for 

 marketing, a mixed grain ration of corn and oats when fed with 

 clover ha}^ was more efficient than a single grain ration of corn, and 

 although more exi^ensive than corn and clover hay the gains made 

 its use more economical. Clover hay fed with a mixed-grain ration 

 of corn and oats produced 58 per cent more gain than timoth}^ hay. 

 A nutritive ratio of 1 : 10 was found too wide for best results, which 

 were secured with a nutritive ratio of 1:8. 



Investigations were made on the viability of the bovine tubercu- 

 losis organism, and work on contagious abortion Avas continued. 

 A study of the composition of butter disclosed no difference in com- 

 position due to the season of the year or the localit}^ of manufacture, 

 and the variation in composition of samples taken from the various 

 creameries was not greater than in the samples taken from any 

 single creamer}^ The pasteurization of the cream gathered from 

 farms was found, as a rule, to have improved the keeping quality of 

 the butter to some extent, and did not affect the body or texture of 

 the butter, but the curdling of cream as a result of the treatment 

 increased the loss of fat in buttermilk. Observations made on the 

 economy of the round dairy barn show that this type of structure 

 offers greater convenience in storing, handling, and distributing 

 feed, and gives much greater strength to the building with less lum- 

 ber. It is stated that material for rectangular barns costs from 3-i 

 to 50 per cent more than for round barns of the same capacit3^ 



Along horticultural and botanical lines, studies were made of 

 molds or ear rots of corn, apple canker, and spotting of maple leaves, 

 and considerable cooperative work was carried on with spraying, 

 drainage, and with fertilizers for fruits and vegetables. Experi- 

 ments were also made with melons, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce and 

 with fertilizers for carnations. It was shown that for the produc- 

 tion of earl}^ tomatoes on the particular field where the tests were 

 made a mixture of steamed bone, dried blood, and potassium sulphate 

 was superior to other fertilizers used and that the leaf spot of tomato 



