220 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Adams-fund projects were lost to the station before their investiga- 

 tions were brought to any conchision. Their records remain; but 

 as far as the important qualities which the individual contributes to 

 an investigation a new beginning is necessary. Time will be re- 

 quired to fully overcome the results of these changes and to restore 

 confidence in this station as a j^lace where conditions conducive to 

 effective experiment and investigation may be found. 



After the close of the year James A. AVilson, formerlj^ superin- 

 tendent of one of the district agricultural schools of the State, was 

 appointed director; X. O. Booth, horticulturist and botanist; and 

 A. H. Wright, assistant agronomist and temporarily in charge of 

 that department. 



The construction of the sheep barn begun last year was completed 

 (PI. VI, fig. 2), and a greenhouse, to be used by the station for work 

 in horticulture, was built during the year. Improvements were also 

 made in the department of chemistry. 



The station receives no direct appropriation from the State, but 

 by law is placed in charge of certain lines of work from which it 

 derives some revenue from the dairy commission, the nursery inspec- 

 tion, and the pure-feed and fertilizer funds. 



Progress was made in the Adams-fund work of the station during 

 the year. For the purpose of studying the fruit buds, apple trees 

 12 to 14 years old Avere selected and placed under observation, -and 

 some preliminary studies were made in the laboratory. Considerable 

 work on the factors affecting the setting of fruit on the tomato was 

 carried on in the greenhouse. The effects of planting in dry versus 

 moist earth and of the age and moist condition of pollen were also 

 studied. 



The veterinarian, in connection with the project on artificial 

 impregnation, studied the vitality of the sperm cell under normal and 

 abnormal conditions. In the cottonseed-meal work it was found that 

 in the anim^il fed on this substance the effect on breeding had been 

 marked. The study of drought resistance in corn and breeding of 

 resistant strains was continued. Mammoth White, derived from 

 Boone County White, a large plant and good yielder, but not very 

 drought resistant, was crossed with Squaw, an early variety. The 

 studies at the station and in the field include observations on the 

 plants in general and their leaf structure, root development, size of 

 ear and cob, the conditions of the soil, the best time to apply pollen, 

 etc. It has been found that it requires two or three years to fix the 

 cross. 



The work in the sheep-breeding project, carried on with Dorsets, 

 Shropshires, and Merino sheep, was confined the past year largely 

 to raising pure-bred lambs and securing wool samples for study. 

 Progress was also made in the investigation of a fungus disease of 



