EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 121 



REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE AGBICULTURAL DEPART- 

 MENT. 



To the Director : 



The following is a report of the work of the Agricultural Department 

 of the Experiment Station, for the period between June 1 and November 

 1, 1898: 



Upon taking charge of this Department on June 1, 1898, the work for 

 the season was fully planned and well under way. The area of ground 

 placed under the charge of this department consists of the experimental 

 plots in Fields No. 3 and 5, and a portion of Field No. 6, which is being 

 used for trials with forage crops and for testing varieties of wheat and 

 corn. 



WHEAT. 



Tests of varieties were conducted in Field 6, where long narrow plols 

 has been sown and the conditions obtained as nearly uniform as possible, 

 resulting as follows: 



yield 



Variety. per acre, bu. 



Dawson's Golden Chaff 42.59 



Dawson's Golden Chaff from original seed 30.18 



Russian 31.02 



Surprise 30.33 



( Jurrell 28.29 



Rudy 27.87 



( lhaplin 25.83 



In Field No. 10. White Clauson yielded 23.74 bushel per acre and the 

 Buda Pesth 20.04 bushel to the acre. A comparison of the yields be- 

 tween and 10 would be misleading, owing to the wide differences in 

 the fertility of their soils. 



Small plots of the following varieties were harvested from Field 

 and the more promising ones sown under favorable conditions again this 

 fall: Red Lorraine, Red Altkirche, Barnatka, Plymouth Rock, Krimish, 

 Sandomir, Red Bearded, Early Arcadian, Earl's Velvet Chaff, Perfec- 

 tion, Reliable Minnesota, Genesee Giant, Nigger, Red Senora, Spelt, Soft 

 Angora, Chaplin, Surprise, No. 0, Sterling and Egyptian. 



In Fields 8 and 14, wheat has been sown this fall in a manner to afford 

 a test of several of our more prominent varieties, while also in Field 8 

 is an experiment in cultivation. 



Wheat Smut. — Careful observations were made upon the College wheat 

 fields to discover the presence of either of the smuts that visit this local- 

 ity. None of the varieties were infested with the stinking smut, while 

 loose smut appeared only on the Surprise wheat in No. 0. Numerous 

 reports of the presence of wheat smut in various parts of the State came 

 to this office, with requests for remedies for the same. Accordingly, 



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