REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



B/ B. Ross. 



Dr. C. C. Thach, 



President Alabanm Poli/trcJinic Institute, Auhurn, Ala. 



Sir: — I l)e<»; to submit the tolI<)winj>- statement with re- 

 gard to the nature and scope of the work of the Themical 

 Department of the Exi)eriment Station for the year just 

 ended : 



Tin's work, as heretofore, lias embraced investigations 

 conducted under the provisions of the original Hatch act, 

 wxtvk carried out under authority of the Adams act, and 

 insjiection work };erformed under the police requirements 

 of State laws, while, in addition, a considerable amount of 

 miscellaneous analytical work has been accomplished. 



The rejiorts submitted by Dr. J. T. Anderson and Prof. 

 C. L. Hare give the essential features of the work carried 

 out by them under the provisions of the Hatch and Adams 

 acts and a large amiount of valuable data has been accumu- 

 lated in connection with their investigations during the 

 past year. Tn carrying out these investigations, as well as 

 in connection with the usual routine work of the labora- 

 tory, a large number of specimens of agricultural products 

 has been analyzed since the date of the last annual re- 

 port. 



Tn addition to the lines of investigation mentioned in 

 the reports of Messrs. Anderson and Hare, some work has 

 been and is being done in connection with the study of the 

 relative availability of the phosphoric acid of the basic 

 slag or cinder obtained as a by-oroduct from the manufac- 

 ture of steel by the basic open-hearth process. 



For a number of years the basic slag obtained as a by- 

 product of the Thomas-Gilchrist steel process has been 

 successfully employed as a fertilizer both in Europe and in 

 this country, but the slag obtained as a by-product of the 



