EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 123 



REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



Prof. C. D. Smith: 



Dear Sir — I beg leave to submit the following brief outline of the work 

 of the Division of Chemistry for the year just past: 



There is probably no branch of science that requires greater expendi- 

 ture of energy to accomplish results than does chemistry. Indeed it is 

 often the case that what requires a whole year's time in laborious and 

 painstaking analytical work can be recorded in a few short paragraphs 

 and tables. Yet it is only in this manner that reliable results can be 

 obtained. No problems in chemistry are solved by the pen but all are 

 reached solely through the medium of hard, steady, analytical work. 



As noted in a previous report the outward signs of the work of this 

 division are revealed in the two bulletins issued but that which appears 

 in the few pages of these bulletins is little indication, to the popular 

 mind, of the vast amount of analytical work required to establish the 

 results obtained. The bulletin on lireakfast Foods is a step somewhat 

 beyond the work done by the station in former years and there is 

 abundant need for information along this line. 



The fertilizer control work placed under the supervision of this 

 division, is steadily increasing and demanding each year more and more 

 time. The requirements of the work are likewise increasing and it has 

 been our policy to make this work as thorough and of as great benefit 

 to the agricultural interests of the State as is possible. I refer you to 

 the Secretary's financial statement as to the income on account of this 

 work. 



A year ago an experiment in animal nutrition was planned and it has 

 now been carried through two winters. The results will be given some 

 time during the present summer or early fall. Little is definitely known 

 concerning the processes in animal nutrition, and it is an exceedingly 

 difficult line to study. It has been our hope and purpose to continue 

 the study of these problems, as we have opportunity, as a contribution 

 to greater knowledge concerning them. Several experiments in soils 

 are now being pursued which bear considerably on problems in plant 

 and animal nutrition and it is hoped that some light may be turned 

 on these subjects. 



A great deal of work comes to us from other departments — work in 

 sugar beet culture, fertilizer experiments, plant breeding, etc., which 

 means to us nothing but routine analytical work and which does not 

 appear largely to the credit of this division. At the same time these ex- 

 periments, as cited above, could not be carried to a successful conclusion 

 without the cooperation of this division. It is in this manner that the 

 division of chemistry is related to the other divisions of the experiment 

 station. 



The experiment station has repeatedly urged the necessity of a state 

 control of the commercial feeding stuffs in a manner analogous to the 

 fertilizer control work. We attended a meeting at the Round-up In- 

 stitute and gave a short address on commercial feeding stuff's. At the 



