\ EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 79 



kinds came to him for examination and his prompt replies saved many a 

 farmer from money loss or the purchase of seed which would introduce 

 weeds upon his farm. His singularly accurate and broad knowledge of 

 systematic botany was placed at the service of the State by his innumer- 

 able answers to questions relating to samples of weeds and useful plants 

 sent in to him, either in the way of identifying the samples or telling the 

 inquirer as to their characteristics and value. 



Professor B. O. Longyear was chosen as his successor. His report fol- 

 lows and exhibits the scope of the present work of the Botanical division 

 of the Station. 



Some notable changes have taken place in the equipment of the Station 

 during the year. A barn for the Bacteriological department has been 

 built at no small expense. This barn is arranged for the isolation and 

 care of animals afflicted with dangerous and infectious diseases and is 

 provided with all the conveniences and requisites to insure the safety of 

 other animals and of men. In the new College Bacteriological building 

 there is a room set apart for the exclusive use of the Station and the 

 laboratory and fixtures have been moved into it from the rooms over the 

 Veterinary lecture room and offices. This laboratory is equipped with the 

 apparatus necessary for the study of soil problems as well as those relat- 

 ing to animal diseases and an assistant is employed who devotes his 

 entire time to soil life, especially the microorganisms resident in the 

 nodules of the roots of legumes. Within the year also the Chemical 

 department has moved its quarters into the rooms vacated by the Bacteri- 

 ologist in the Veterinary building where a new laboratory has been fitted 

 up. The College Chemical Laboratory is altogether too small to accom- 

 modate the large and increasing classes and this move was made to aid 

 in relieving the pressure for room in that building. 



The Entomologist has erected a small house for conducting experiments 

 in fumigation. Certain crops, notably those in greenhouses are threatened 

 by diseases which yield to no treatment other than fumigation with gases 

 so dangerous to human life as to require specially constructed buildings 

 for their use. 



The report of the Superintendent of the Upper Peninsula Experiment 

 Station shows that while the year 1901 was exceedingly wet and as a con- 

 sequence the crops were either ruined while growing or were rendered 

 valueless by wet harvests, the season of 1902 was comparatively dry, 

 allowing the Station fields to show crops that would do credit to the 

 most fertile sections of the Southern Peninsula. As far as the work has 

 gone it seems to indicate that the chief difficulty, which farmers in the 

 Northern Peninsula will experience, comes from frosts late in the spring 

 and early in the fall. While it is hoped that the removal of the forests will 

 remedy this difficulty to some extent, there is a lack of definite proof that 

 immunity from summer frosts is to follow the clearing of lands. The 

 location of the Station is unfortunate, perhaps, in the matter of rainfall. 

 The records show that the region about Chatham is one of the sections 

 of the State in which the rainfall is greatest. The superabundant rainfall 

 and the summer frosts have made the growing of tender vegetables and 

 fruits exceedingly difficult and precarious. There are no permanent im- 

 provements to be recorded at this Station during the year, except grading 

 about the house and barn and clearing off the first terrace above the 

 creek on the north side. 



