212 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



No. 310 blue-stem Avheat was largely disseminated through the 

 demonstration farms. This wheat is the result of 17 years' work, 

 and is the first blue-stem seed distributed by the station. The yield 

 in this very dry year was 27^ bushels per acre on 5 acres, while the 

 average wheat production for the entire State is estimated at only 

 5| bushels per acre. No. 959 winter rye proved hardy to a con- 

 siderably greater degree than the common rye sown in the country, 

 and also gave better yields. The cross of winter wheat and winter 

 rye made by the station two years ago continued to prove fertile and 

 vigorous, and to promise to be a good yielder. The improved seed 

 grains are tested on the demonstration farms and the five substations 

 located in 29 of the 48 counties of the State and are largely dis- 

 tributed from these points. 



The studies of crop rotation, soil exhaustion, and fertility main- 

 tenance were extended and largely revised during the year. This 

 work is planned to determine positively the requirements for the 

 maintenance of the soil of the Red River Valley. The moisture 

 studies were continued on the rotation plats and were extended to 

 the demonstration farms and also carried out in the dry-land 

 farming work at the five substations. 



The work in animal husbandry included feeding experiments with 

 hogs, in which diiferent feeds were compared. (PL IV, fig. 2.) It 

 was found that corn produced a much larger proportion of fat than 

 barley and in consequence made a poorer grade of pork. It required 

 18 i^er cent more of barley than of corn to produce a given gain in 

 weight. Another test showed that ground rejected wheat produced 

 good gains when fed to swine with shorts. In comparison with corn 

 it required 8.9 per cent more rejected wheat than corn to produce the 

 same gains, but the quality of pork produced was better than that 

 produced on corn. Observations were made on the cost of milk 

 production with the various rotations available in the State. In 

 breeding work with poultiy the use of a good sire for three genera- 

 tions on mongrel stock brought the flock up to a high grade. A 

 comparison of cold and warm housing and ventilation for chickens 

 gave the best results from the cool housing. The fowls produced 

 more eggs and showed greater vigor than where the temperature 

 remained above freezing. The effect of exposing eggs to low tem- 

 perature before incubation as affecting their fertility was studied, 

 and it was found that eggs chilled up to three hours hatched well. 

 The enforcement of the stallion inspection law is incumbent directly 

 upon the head of the department of animal husbandry. An exami- 

 nation was made of 2,522 stallions, of which 2,346 were granted 

 licenses. 



The work of the horticulturist was seriously interfered with by 

 the drought and the prevalence of grasshoppers. The year's work 



