190 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



preparations for breeding the F^ generation were made. Hampshire, 

 Southdown, Shropshire, Dorset Horn, Leicester, and Rambouillet 

 sheep are used in this work, and an elaborate series of measurements 

 and records taken. It is chiimed that ah'eady the manner of inher- 

 itance of many characters can be distinguished and the result from 

 such crosses predicted. A study was made of the different crosses 

 with regard to their adaptability to the production of early lambs. 

 Coincidently the inheritance of the characters of twin bearing 

 and multinipples was taken up for investigation. Another line of 

 observation taken up during the year in connection with this project 

 was the determination of postnatal variation in the growth of sheep 

 and in the gi'owth of large bones of the extremities. Dr. C. B. Daven- 

 port, of the Station of Experimental Evolution, Carnegie Institution, 

 is a collaborator in this research in sheej> breeding. 



Results obtained this season in the fruit-bud formation project 

 showed that the rate of wood growth in plats cultivated every other 

 year was approximately double that of plats not cultivated, and in 

 plats cultivated every year the rate of wood growth was double 

 that of plats cultivated every other year. No marked differences 

 appeared in rate of Avood growth between unfertilized cultivated 

 plats and fertilized cultivated plats. Together with cultivation, the 

 presence of certain fertilizers, often in excess of normal amounts, 

 seemed to stimulate the formation of fruit buds. Plant-breeding 

 work was continued with squashes, watermelons, and carnations, and 

 studies of correlations in the strawberry were again pursued. In 

 the experiments with carnations pure types were sought, and valu- 

 able and useful variations were looked for. During the past season 

 pure color types were isolated and crosses made between them for 

 the purpose of determining Mendelian proportions. One valuable 

 new crimson carnation was discovered in connection with this work, 

 and its propagation was begun. The correlation studies on the 

 strawberry included the records on the fruit and foliage of 931 seed- 

 ling plants. Measurements of the leaves were made in order to 

 determine whether correlations exist between the size of leaves and 

 the size of fruits, and the total amount of foliage and the total 

 amount of fruit. 



Considerable advance was reported in working out the life history 

 of the fruit-spot diseases of apples. The effects of temperature and 

 moisture upon the fruit-spot of apples in storage were studied, and 

 observations were made on the leaf spots, three species of SphcTropsis 

 being studied. Inoculation and spraying experiments were made to 

 determine the time that leaf -spot infection takes place, and the results 

 indicated that there is but little spread of the disease after June 10, 

 but that on water sprouts and other tender growths infection may 



