256 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



March 1st Mr. Ray Nelson returned to the position to which he has been 

 appointed the year before but from which he was called by the draft 

 shortly after beginning his work. Mr. Nelson devotes full time to inves- 

 tigating plant diseases. 



Respectfully submitted, 



E. A. BESSEY, 



Botanist. 

 East Lansing, June 30, 1919. 



Professor E. A, Bessey, East Lansing, Michigan. 



Dear Professor Bessey — In accordance with your request I herewith 

 submit the report of work in Plant Physiology for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1919. 



As per the plan of previous years the work has been divided between 

 the Experiment Station and the College, the allotment of time being ap- 

 proximately the same as during the last fiscal year. 



ADAMS FUND WORK. 



The Adams project (Adams 2d), entitled "The absorption of solutes 

 with special reference to balanced solutions", was pursued actively. It 

 has assumed large proportions and is being carried on in the field on a large 

 scale. The practical application of this project rests in working out from 

 the data collected and to be collected a logical and reasonable method 

 for determining the fertihzer requirements 'of soils and crops. The evi- 

 dence so far is very strong in favor of adopting a certain method, but 

 further field work should be done for a period of several years, so that defi- 

 nite conclusions can be drawn. The plan should also be modified to include 

 the idea of crop rotations. Similar work is being done at the Maine and 

 Pennsylvania Experiment Stations. At both of these stations the work 

 is under the direction of one man. The problem here was independently 

 conceived and planned, and worked out as a result of laboratory and 

 greenhouse study carried on here for the past several years. Our first 

 field studies were started on an acre of land in Field 10, during the summer 

 of 1918. The results show that, for the particular soil used and under the 

 then existing climatic and environmental conditions, an application of a 

 mixed fertilizer containing a large amount of acid phosphate gave the 

 greatest yield of oat grain and straw. That acid phosphate alone would 

 not be the best fertilizer treatment was shown by a poorer yield of grain 

 on the plot treated with acid phosphate only. Where a little sulphate of 

 potash and sodium nitrate were used in conjunction with the acid phos- 

 phate the best yield was obtained. This shows, as has also been shown in 

 greenhouse and laboratory work, that the evidence is strongly in favor of 

 the use of other fertilizer salts to correct the unbalanced conditions in the 

 soil solution when it is deficient in some necessary salt. 



During the winter months a similar experiment was set up in the 

 greenhouse. The soil was from the same field only not from the part 

 that had received fertilizer applications. Two-gallon crocks were used 

 in which to grow the crop. Instead of oats this time we used another 

 cereal — wheat, of the Marquis varietj'-. Altho this experiment should 

 be repeatedjor'should be run in duphcate to be ideal, the results show 

 that acid phosphate again should be the chief ingredient in the fertilizer for 

 this particular soil. It is our intention to^repeat this experiment immedi- 



