160 EEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPEEIMENT STATIONS. 



Gates as apiarist, the station staff was increased by appointing assist- 

 ants in horticulture and in botany and plant pathology. C. H. 

 Fernald, for 24 years entomologist of the station, retired from the 

 position, and H. T. Fernald was appointed as his successor. Several 

 other changes in the minor positions also took i:)lace. 



The State legislature made an appropriation of $15,000 for the 

 purchase of a cranberry bog, and a tract of 23 acres, including 12 

 acres of made bog, was purchased at East Wareham, and possession 

 was secured after the close of the fiscal year. The tract has ponds 

 on three sides and is provided with a pumping plant with sufficient 

 capacit}' to flood the bog in seven hours. 



A demonstration farm was started at Sandwich by private benefi- 

 cence. A local physician left about $25,000 and a small farm for 

 conducting experiments and demonstrations for the general benefit 

 of the people. The director and the pomologist of the station and 

 the director of extension work constitute an advisory committee to the 

 board of trustees of the fund. 



Under the Adams fund the work with asparagus included a study 

 of the effects of fertilizers on rust and on the composition of the roots. 

 It was found that the increase of nitrogen in the fertilizer up to a 

 medium amount was accompanied by an increase in nitrogen in the 

 roots. A study of the carbohydrates and ash content of the roots 

 was also made. In cooperation with this department, work on rust 

 resistance by means of selection and crossing was carried on. 



In the work on cranberry insects special attention was given to the 

 fireworm and the fruit worm, and the food plants, life history, etc., 

 of a new species of Gelechia tnaTbamiacidella^ which attacks the cran- 

 berry, were studied. Efforts were made to determine the most vul- 

 nerable point in the life of the fruit-worm pupse, and the effects of 

 different methods of treatment were observed. A study was also 

 made of the pupse of the girdler and of methods for its destruction. 

 An experiment to determine the relation of bees to the fertilization of 

 cranberry blossoms seemed to show that bees were necessary in this 

 connection, and that bumblebees were more efficient than honeybees. 

 The study upon the principles underlying the use of fertilizers in 

 cranberry culture was continued, and for this purpose an artificial 

 cranberry bog, enabling the more thorough control of conditions in 

 experimental work than is ordinarily possible, was constructed on 

 the station grounds. 



In the milk-secretion project, further attention was given to more 

 accurate methods for separating the different fatty acids as prelimi- 

 nary to the study of milk secretion. The results of a study on the 

 effect of molnsses on the digestibility of hay indicated that molasses 

 causes a distinct depression in the digestibility of the other feeds 



