155 Eleventh Annual Report. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND 

 HORTICULTURE. 



The past year has been devoted largely to a continuation of 

 work begun the previous year. Experiments have been contin- 

 ued with grains, forage crops, green-manuring, vegetables, meth- 

 ods of irrigation, sugar beets and Eucalypti. Work has been be- 

 gun on the relations of vegetation to extremes of temperatures. 



GRAINS. 



Two lines of experimentation have been followed : the testing 

 of wheats grown for milling purposes, and the determination of 

 the best varieties of grains for hay for horses. 



WHEAT. 



The work on wheat consisted chiefly of testing varieties, de- 

 termining times of sowing that give the highest yields, and test- 

 ing methods of irrigation. Of the fifteen varieties tested, Ruby 

 was the only one that gave as high a yield as Sonora, the stand- 

 ard variety of the region; and number 1 174 of the Department of 

 Agriculture, from Turkestan, was the only one that ripened in as 

 short a time. Several, however, showed milling qualities super- 

 ior to Sonora. Winter wheats, even when sown in early autumn, 

 gave only about two-thirds the yield of Sonora sown at the same 

 time, or several months subsequently. White Australian, the 

 variety that is becoming popular with the millers, gave about 

 three-fourths the yield of Sonora sown at the same time. Three 

 varieties of macaroni wheats were grown, each doing well and 

 giving about four-fifths the yield of Sonora. Number 11 74 from 

 Turkestan was sown March 10, and made on excellent growth for 

 the season of the year, ripening June 10, a few days earlier than 

 Sonora sown at the same time. The variety is reputed to possess 

 great heat and drouth resisting powers; but it will be necessary to 

 test it at least another season before its merits will be established. 



Sonora sown in early November gave the highest yield. The 



