REPORT OF THE CHEAIIST. 



B. B. Ross. 



Dr. C. C. Thach, 



President Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 

 Auljurn, Alabama. 

 Sir: 



I herewith submit the followini;- report with reg'ard to 

 the extent and character of the work of the Chemical De- 

 partment of the Experiment Station for the past year: 



The work of this department embraces investigations 

 carried out under the provisions of the original Hatch act 

 and of the Adams act. inspection work performed under 

 jjolice regulations which provide for the analysis of ferti- 

 lizers, feed stuffs, illuminating- oils, etc., while analyses are 

 also made of many samples of miscellaneous materials 

 sent in from all sections of the State. 



The reports submitted by Dr. J. T. Anderson and Prof C. 

 L. Hare furnish information with reg-ard to the progress 

 of the work that is being- conducted by them under the 

 provision- of the Adams and Hatch acts^ while a consider- 

 able amount of analytical work has been done in connec- 

 tion with experiments and investig-ations conducted by 

 other departments of the Experiment Station. 



The investigations being carried out with a view to not- 

 ing- the eft'ects of seed selection upon the quality of the 

 cotton seed produced from season to season are of interest 

 on account of the economic aspect of the subject, as cotton 

 seed and cotton seed products at present constitute such an 

 important proportion of the total value of the cotton crop. 

 If results at all similar to those that have been secured 

 elsewhere in corn breeding- can be attained in the produc- 

 tion of cotton seed particularly rich in oil or in protein, 

 the possibility of still further increasing the value of the by- 

 products of the cotton crop becomes apparent. 



Additional work has been done in connection with in- 

 vestigations as to the availability of basic cinder or slag 

 obtained as a by-product from the manufacture of steel by 

 the basic open-hearth process, though as yet there is some 

 lack of agreement between laboratory and field tests as to 

 the availability of the phosphoric acid in this material. 



