226 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



him. A few other changes in the minor positions on the station staff 

 also occurred during the j^ear. Since the close of the fiscal year T. F. 

 Hunt, the director, has begun a vacation of nine months abroad and 

 Alva Agee has served as acting director during his absence. The 

 revenues of the station were practically as outlined in last year's 

 report. 



The Adams-fund work, as in the previous year, was confined to 

 three different projects. The horticultural study of the causes influ- 

 encing the yield and quality of apples was continued in 12 orchards, 

 containing 91 acres and located in different parts of the State, and in 

 the new orchard of 29 acres on one of the college farms. The differ- 

 ent factors studied in this work included soil, location, tillage, mulch- 

 ing, fertilizers, cover crops, and others which may control and limit 

 quantity and quality. The results thus far secured indicate, among 

 other things, that in the use of fertilizers nitrogen is usually the 

 limiting factor. The fertilizers used have not shown any consistent 

 ability to improve color or size of fruit. 



In agi'onomy, work on the long-time fertilizer and rotation experi- 

 ment and on the chemical, physical, and biological variations in the 

 soil as brought about by this treatment was continued. The crop 

 raised was the twentj^-ninth grown on the plats, and striking differ- 

 ences were apparent. A study of the different forms of lime indi- 

 cated that finely pulverized limestone is as prompt and effective as 

 caustic lime in correcting soil acidity and promoting the growth of 

 clover. This investigation was extended to permanent pasture. Tak- 

 ing advantage of these long-time fertilizer plats, this department is 

 cooperating with the station in studying the soil solution, the changes 

 in the form and amount of nitrogen, and the relation of the fertilizer 

 used to the soil and the composition of the crop. 



The other line of investigation under this fund is conducted by the 

 Institute of Animal Nutrition (described on p. 228). 



Considerable work, supported by Hatch and other funds, was also 

 in progress. Experiments were conducted relative to soil treatment 

 as affecting the success of alfalfa, corn, wheat, oats, barley, and clover 

 and timothy. This work includes tests of deep and shalloAV plowing, 

 time of plowing, use of lime and fertilizers, methods of cultivation, 

 and variety tests of oats, potatoes, wheat and corn, corn and timothy, 

 breeding, seed testing, and other lines of similar activities. 



The experiments on tobacco, as previously, were carried on in co- 

 operation with this department in Lancaster County under a State 

 appropriation of $2,500. 



The animal husbandry department continued the feeding experi- 

 ment in which bulky and concentrated rations were compared and 

 found that under Pennsylvania conditions the bulky ration was the 

 more profitable. A continuation of shelter experiments sliowed that 



