294 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



lions, sc4(ini;- up culhn'os, measnrinjjj and weij^hinj; plants, recording re- 

 sulls, olc. Dr. Ilihltai-d lias employed sludenls to liol}) in this, l)\it iiieir 

 time is not always at his disposal when i( is most convenient for him to 

 use them. It is tlieiei'ore hi<;hly desirable tiiat snch a trained assist- 

 ant as mentioned above be emi)loyed at the earliest opportunity. 



I append herewith the reports of Dr. Ilibbard, Mr. Muncie and Dr. 

 Coons, on their work for the past year as well as five brief supplement- 

 ary reports. I urge that you attempt to arrange that my report together 

 with all these ap]>ended reports be issued together as a reprint from the 

 Board I{e])ort and that HOO copies be furnished to this division for dis- 

 tribution among persons interested. 



Respectfully submitted, 



ERNST A. BESSEY, 



Botanist. 



East Lansing, Mich., June 30, 1917. 



PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. 



Prof. E. A. Bessey, College: 



Dear Professor Bessey: At your request I herewith submit the follow- 

 ing report of the work in Plant Physiology for the year ending June 30, 

 1917: 



No change has been made in the distribution of the time between the 

 College and the Station. Approximately % of the time has been devoted 

 to investigation and % to teaching. It is appreciated by the writer that 

 there is another phase of endeavor open to the plant physiologist in the 

 line of extension work, but as yet this field has not been touched for 

 various reasons. It has been acknowledged by a few for some time back 

 and now many are awakening to the fact that the extension specialist is 

 dependent on the results of the experiment station work. Many lines 

 of investigation have sufi'ered as a result of present economic conditions 

 to such a degree that the National Research Council has especially em- 

 phasized the importance of continuing all research as before. Unless 

 funds and a trained assistant can be obtained to carry on station work 

 it w^ould be unwise to make more than a newspaper campaign along ex- 

 tension lines. This has been done from the beginning of the present ex- 

 tension publicity work. The writer has talked with a few extension 

 leaders and county agents and all agree to the necessity for work in 

 I)lant physiology and some of the county agents' problems have been 

 discussed. 



All the investigational work for the station has been supported by 

 the Adams' Fund and is being conducted along the same general lines 

 and under the same title as i^roposed in April, 1915, namely, "The ab- 

 sorption of solutes by plants with especial reference to balanced solu- 

 tions." By way of brief summary, the following may be said in regard 

 to the progress made in this investigation since the last report. 



Repeated experiments with a three-salt nutrient solution under differ- 

 ent sets of conditions have shown that the conclusions drawai by Shive 

 in regard to its suitability and efficiency when compared to all other 



