194 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Experiments were also conducted with green manures, and with fer- 

 rous sulphate and gypsum, as to their influence on the bacterial flora 

 of the soil. 



An attempt is being made to develop a bacteriological method for 

 determining the availability of nitrogen in organic nitrogenous fer- 

 tilizers. Crops are grown in pots fertilized with different nitrogenous 

 fertilizers, and the amount of nitrogen taken up is determined (PI. IV, 

 fig. 1). In the clieck tests in the laboratory definite quantities of 

 nitrogenous fertilizers are inoculated Avith pure cultures of bacteria 

 or soil infusion and the ammonia distilled off in a few days. The 

 results are very promising. The specific effect of nitrogenous, phos- 

 phatic, and potasli fertilizers, as evidenced by the kind of weeds 

 which flourished where they were applied, was also studied. Lab- 

 oratory study on Azotobacter was continued, three new species of 

 nitrogen-fixing organisms having been isolated. 



In the plant-breeding project attention Avas primarily directed 

 toward studying the principles of inheritance in beans, sweet corn, 

 eggplants, peppers, squashes, and tomatoes. As a foundation for the 

 study of inheritance in breeding tomatoes a thorough study was made 

 of the skins of the various types of tomatoes, and the results were, 

 published in Bulletin 228. About 120 reciprocal crosses of the dif- 

 ferent types of tomatoes have been made, and in the leading types the 

 first generation crosses were studied in detail with reference to 

 cotyledons and the first and the normal leaf. Attention was also 

 given to heredity in size and type of fruit, cell structure of fruit, 

 leaf, and stem, and to other characters. A large amount of similar 

 work was carried on with peppers. Breeding work with sweet corn 

 was carried on with the object of increasing depth of kernel. In 

 conjunction with this project the study of the effect of environmental 

 factors such as heat, light, moisture, etc., on variation in plants was 

 also taken up. In this work, in order to eliminate the factor of indi- 

 viduality, plants as closely related as possible wei-e used. In some 

 cases plants were sprouted from the leaves, and those from the same 

 leaf were separated to receive different treatment. 



Under the Platch fund the horticulturist studied the effect of cover 

 crops in a dwarf apple orchard, and continued the work with grapes 

 at Vineland and with peaches at High Bridge. Green-manuring 

 work in these orchards and greenhouse experiments with carnations 

 on the influence of the mechanical condition of the soil to determine 

 whether a substitution of commercial fertilizers may be made for a 

 part of the manure used were carried on in cooperation with the soil 

 bacteriologist. Some fertilizer work with roses was also conducted 

 in the greenhouse. 



The station alfalfa field of 10 acres seeded last year produced GO 

 tons of hay in 3J cuttings. There has been a great growth of interest 



