102 . STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in friction or in dnplioation. In view of this fact, it is somewhat un- 

 fortunate that the fnnds available for the publication of bulletins have 

 been inadequate, rendering necessary the postponement of several bulle- 

 tins until near the close of the fiscal year. 



The work upon the station plots comes immediately under the super- 

 vision of the director. Tt is necessary by reason of Ihe large number 

 of jieople Avho visit the station during the summer, to carry forward 

 some work whicli is spectacular rather than ]iermanently useful. AVe 

 have one series of ]>lots called the <'uriosity sirij), devoted 1o ihe grow- 

 ing of ]>lants and cro])s that will be in their ]»rime in August when 

 the visitors arrive. It is the plan to place upon this series unusual crojis 

 or the ncAver things coming into Michigan agriculture like the varieties 

 of soy beans, peppermint, peanuts, tobacco and some of the better types 

 of the large forage plants, like pennisetum or kaffir corn. Without 

 growing these crops into the larger plots, it now seems to be fairly 

 well demonstrated that none of them can take the place of corn, where 

 corn is possible. They may be used, however, to supplement^ corn 

 when for some reason the latter crop is not available. 



All other plots are used directly and entirely for the solution of 

 questions of importance to the farmers. Professor Moses Craig has done 

 very efficient service, Avhich ought to be recognized in this report, in 

 the matter of plant breeding. The first problem submitted to his 

 skilled hand was the improvement of soy beans, or rather of a legume 

 closely akin to the soy bean, called the Black Murarau. This legume 

 was not breeding true to type. Mr. Craig made selections for two or 

 more successive years, and lias sharply differentiated the plant into two 

 types, the one with a hastate leaf, the other with an ovoid leal". The 

 crop is a great yielder of seed and promises to displace the regular 

 soys for seed production. The regular soys have also been carefully 

 worked over, the ho])e being to train up some erect plants without too 

 coarse stems, but Avitli abundant foliage to be harvested as hay, while 

 the same variety is trained to produce another type a little later with less 

 leaves but with abundant seed, the stem also being slender rather than 

 coarse. It takes time to accomplish results in this ])lant breeding, but 

 I wisli to acknowledge the efficient service of Mr, Craig in these two 

 lines. 



Alfalfa is undergoing selection, hoping to secure a strain which will 

 seed abundantly in this latitude, and Aviiich will withstand the vicissi- 

 ludes of the trying climate. The worse enemy of Ihis useful cro]> is the 

 -June grass, whicli has practically crowded it out <»f Ihe ]>lots sown in 

 1JM);{. In .Tune, ]907, the crop is maintaining itself on the ]>iols s(>wn 

 in 100.^), tlu^ -Tune grass not having made important invasions. The 

 yields of alfalfa (ai all ]»l<)(s have been vei'y satisfacl<uy indiH'd. but 

 if it is possible for the station to develop the seed ])roduction at the 

 same time securing resistant (pialities it will be of immense value to 

 the state at large. To this end selected seeds have been ])lant<Ml 1o 

 develop one plant in a ])lace, the distance between ])lants being two feet 

 in each direction. This will allow us to select the individual plants 

 which have the greatest powers of endurance. The work with wheat has 

 been continued, not alone A^'ith Dawson's golden chaif, but with other 

 varieties, the i)lan being to determine the In^st i»lant, and then the best 

 head in that plant,' and with that as a start to produce strains which 



