340 ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



peas and other hay crops, a part of wliich were harvested for hay 

 and the remainder plowed under to improve the soil. The crops 

 harvested from the farm are as follows: Hay and stover, 111 tons; 

 silage, 258 tons; corn, 1,120 bushels. The approximate value of these 

 crops based on market values was $3,902.28. The cost of producing 

 these crops, aside from the salary of the superintendent, was $4,582.92. 

 Taking into consideration that the peas and clover grown on approxi- 

 mately one-third of the place were turned under for soil improve- 

 ment, and also the rough condition of the place, the showing made is 

 as good as could be expected. 



A complete water system, provided for from the funds of the 

 fiscal year 1911, is operating satisfactorily. The system consists of 

 a well 325 feet deep, with automatic pumping equipment, inclosed in 

 a small concrete pump house, and a 10,000-gallon pneumatic tank, 

 with pipe lines connecting it with all buildings on both Animal Hus- 

 bandry and Dairy Division farms. 



A high-tension transmission line from the electric railway to the 

 building on the Animal Husbandry farm, with suitable transformers, 

 all of which was provided for from funds of the fiscal year 1911, 

 were completed during the fall of 1911, and are working satisfac- 

 torily. 



Two concrete 'silos 14 by 42 feet were completed and filled during 

 the fall of 1911. A concrete feed barn 40 by 100 was begun during 

 the fall of 1911 and has since been completed. At the east end of 

 the feed barn there is a cattle wing 36 by 59 feet, of the open-shed 

 type, with milking room in one end of it. A small frame milkhouse 

 was built near the milking room of the barn and connected Avith it 

 by a covered passageway. At the west end of the feed barn work 

 has been begun on another cattle stable 37 by 59 feet of the ordinary 

 type of dairy stable, with concrete floor and stanchions. The object 

 in having the two kinds of stables is to determine their comparative 

 merits. 



During the year, when other work would permit, the construction 

 of a pemianent road into the farm has been in progress. The surface 

 consists of sand and clay. 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK IN DAIRY PRODUCTION. 



Some lines of experimental work in dairy production were pre- 

 pared for and begun at other places before the Beltsville farm was 

 equipped for experimental work. It is the intention, however, to 

 carry on hereafter all work of this kind so far as practicable at that 

 farm. These investigation are now in charge of Mr. T. E. 

 Woodward. 



An experiment was begun in the fall of 1911 at Brownsville, Tex., 

 in cooperation with the Office of Farm Management of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, with the object of determining the value of cac- 

 tus as a fe€d for dairy cattle in localities where the cactus can be 

 readily grown and where other forage crops are more or less lim- 

 ited on account of climatic conditions. The principal points that are 

 being studied in this investigation are the quantity of cactus that 

 the animals can consume economically, the feeding value of cactus 

 as compared with other feeds, its effect upon the vigor of the animals 

 and upon their offspring, its effect upon the quality of the milk, and 

 its digestibility. Thirteen grade Jerseys were purchased for these 

 experiments. 



