448 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



whether the peat in question is suitable for growing blueberries and 

 how to adapt unsatisfactory peat to this purpose. 



(e) Barley investigation in collaboration with the barley experts 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry. This experiment was started for 

 the purpose of noting the changes in composition of many varieties 

 of barley when grown at the same experiment farm for a series of 

 years. 



(/) The study of alkali extracts in collaboration with the Office of 

 Alkali and Drought-Resisting Plants and the Office of Western Agri- 

 culture Extension to determine whether the solutions in question con- 

 tained sufficient alkali to prevent the growth of crops in the localities 

 affected. 



(<7) The study of the absorption of plant foods by plants grown in 

 the Great Plains area, in collaboration with the Office of Dry Land 

 Agriculture. This is only a small part of the work done in connection 

 with a very extensive project begun by the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 to determine the influence of crop rotation. The chemical work in- 

 cludes the determination of the plant food taken up by plants grown 

 under the different conditions. 



Besides these collaborative studies, this laboratory milled 323 

 samples of Avheat, obtained through the ordinary commercial chan- 

 nels, in order to prepare them for the determination of the amount 

 of nitrites naturally found in flours as a preliminary to the bleached- 

 flour investigation. 



Other studies have included : 



(a) Baking experiments to determine the value of high-protein 

 food materials as partial substitutes for flour in bread making. The 

 results thus far obtained promise to afford a cheaper loaf of bread, 

 which shall be both nutritious and palatable. 



(h) The influence of environment on the composition of wheat. 

 This study has shown that environment has a greater influence in 

 affecting the composition than has variety and the results have been 

 published as Bulletin No. 128. 



(c) The composition of cereals at different stages of growth, in 

 order to determine w^hen the plant should be cut in order to yield 

 the most nutriment. This experiment is being carried on in collabor- 

 ation with the Office of Grain Investigation, and the work is mostly 

 "with barley and wheat. 



(d) Changes in the composition of cereals during storage. The 

 results thus far obtained show that corn changes in composition very 

 much more rapidly than do the other cereals. 



(e) The study of the composition of barley and malt. The object 

 of this study is to note the changes which take place on malting and 

 to study the best temperature at which malting and subsequent kiln- 

 ing should be conducted with a view to causing the least possible 

 loss and of producing a malt with the highest diastatic power. 



(/) The effect of soil exchange (between Kansas, California, and 

 Maryland) on the composition of wheat. This is intended to supple- 

 ment the tri-local experiments on environment in order to determine 

 to what extent the differences in composition found are due to the 

 variations in soil. The first year's results only are at hand and they 

 would seem to indicate that somewhat better crops can be produced 

 on the California and Kansas soils in all three localities than on the 

 Maryland soil. The differences in composition are, however, not 



