KENTUCKY. 147 



project, attention was given mainh^ to the development of reliable 

 methods for determining potash, accepted methods for this purpose 

 proving unreliable. The work on contagious abortion tended to 

 throw doubt on the identity of the organisms stated to be the cause 

 of this disease. The study of milk fever of cows was not taken up 

 during the year except in a preliminai-y way. 



The work with Hatch and other funds included numerous lines 

 conducted at the station and in different parts of the State, fre- 

 quently in cooperation with farmers and other agencies. In 

 agronomy, exjDeriments with forage crops were continued and special 

 attention was given to soy beans, of which the station has a number 

 of promising varieties for Kentuclcy. AVork with corn included 

 breeding experiments, ear-to-row tests in different localities, yield 

 tests with seeds from different parts of the ear, and from graded and 

 ungraded seed, and tests of rates and methods of seeding. 



Breeding work was also carried on with wheat, timothy, and clover, 

 and culture tests were made with alfalfa and other leguminous crops. 

 As a result of selection and cross pollination of wheat, a variety quite 

 resistant to lodging, of good quality and yielding capacity has been 

 obtained. Fertilizer experiments on clover, tobacco, and wheat were 

 carried on principall}^ in the western part and experiments with 

 forage plants in the mountain regions of the State. The work in 

 tobacco breeding is progressing favorably in the development of a 

 type with desirable leaf characters. A test was also made of the use 

 of ferrous sulphate for the destruction of weeds. 



The chemical division gave special attention to the analysis of 

 forage plants to determine the influence of soil fertility on their 

 comi^osition, of tobacco raised in different parts of the State, lime- 

 stones for agricultural purposes, and soil samples obtained from 

 different sections of Kentucky. In addition studies were made of 

 methods for determining carbon dioxid in soils and iron and alumi- 

 num in the ashes of plants and in phosphate rock. Attention was 

 also given to the removal of potassium from the soil by the tobacco 

 crop. 



In animal husbandry, swine-feeding experiments were conducted 

 principally for the purpose of comparing the economy of feeding 

 hogs in dry lots and in pastures, and to compare the efficiency of 

 grasses and leguminous plants as pasture crops for swine. These 

 feeding experiments indicated that green rye, oats, barley, and wheat, 

 when the plants are young and tender, are from about 6 to 12 inches 

 high, and are as efficient as leguminous crops for supplementing corn 

 in economical pork production. By analyses it .was shown that in 

 these very young grasses, dry matter contained about as large a per- 

 centage of protein as the dry matter of leguminous crops. 



