EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 



73 



KEPORT OF THE DIRECTOR. 



To the President: 



Tliere have been issued in the year ending June 30, 1900, the followino^ 

 bulletins: 



One special bulletin has been issued in the same period, making the 

 thirteenth in that series. It was entitled, "A Review of Prof. Bang's 

 Work with Contagious Abortion," and was written bv C. E. Marshall. 



I am very glad to report that there has been no change in the working 

 force of the station during the year except the resignation of Prof. W. 

 B. Barrows as consulting entomologist and the promotion of R. H. Pettit 

 to that work. 



The reports of the heads of the various divisions and the bulletins 

 which are submitted herewith will give a more accurate idea of the work 

 of the station during the year than can any report comftassed within the 

 narrow limits that could reasonably be allowed me. 



In the agricultural division much attention has necessarily been given 

 the subject of sugar beets. Nine sugar factories were in operation dur- 

 ing the last campaign, and another may be expected to commence work 

 in the early fall of 11)00. The season of 1898 was on the whole de- 

 cidedly favorabh^ for the production of a large crop of beets at a good 

 profit to the grower. The season of 1809. on the contrary, was not one 

 that allowed a large yield. As a result of this sequence of seasons many 

 farmers who had been induced to contract with factories for a large 

 acreage in 1899 suffered no inconsiderable pecuniary loss from the sea- 

 son's transaction. They had been induced to go into the raising of 

 beets bv the success of farmers about Bav Citv the vear previous. The 

 Experiment Station sent out a large amount of seed in the spring of 

 1899 to selected farmers who would consent to raise an area of at least 

 a quarter acre, keeping careful watch of the incidents of the growth of 

 the crop, and keeping a record both of the items of expense and return 

 and the observations made. The results of the analyses of the beets 

 sent in confirm the work of ])rcvious years and d<Muonstratc conclusively 

 that there are no counties in the State south of a line drawn east and 

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