lo Report of the President. 



conducting investigations into several problems of fundamental im- 

 portance in soil management, notably the principles of soil granulation 

 and some phases in the movement of soil moistures. But the most 

 prominent form of activity of the department outside of University 

 teaching is the extension work, which, while taking the usual form of 

 correspondence and lectures, addresses and exhibits before farmers' 

 meetings and at agricultural fairs, was largely concerned with the soil 

 survey of the State. This work, fundamental as it is to practically 

 every phase of farm and orchard investigation, strikes at the very 

 basis of the proper understanding of the so-called " abandoned farm " 

 problem of the State. Soil surveys on a scale of one inch equal to one 

 mile were conducted in Livingston and Montgomery counties and on 

 September 30th there had been mapped approximately 496 square 

 miles of the former area and 284 square miles in the latter. 



VII. Department of Soil Investigation. — The purpose of this depart- 

 ment, established and administered in the spirit of the Hatch Act, is 

 to conduct investigations into the principles underlying those prop- 

 erties of the soil that affect its productiveness. While in the course 

 of these investigations some results will be obtained that will be of 

 immediate benefit to farmers and others who are engaged in growing 

 crops, the larger part of the returns will contribute to that knowledge 

 of the properties of soils and their relation to plant growth, the pos- 

 session of which is necessary for the intelligent conduct of the more 

 immediately practical experiments. At present four main lines of in- 

 vestigation are being carried on, (i) the effect of moisture and tem- 

 perature on the availability and utilization of plant nutrients in the 

 soil, and the relation of this to crop production, (2) the influence of 

 certain atmospheric conditions on the absorption of mineral nutrients 

 by plants, (3) a study of certain unproductive soil with special refer- 

 ence to the activities of its bacterial flora, and (4) the character and 

 concentration of the aqueous extract of a soil under different methods 

 of treatment. A system of twenty-four concrete tanks of sufBcient 

 size to produce plants in a normal manner under approximately field 

 conditions have been provided for these soil investigations. 



VII. Department of Horticulture. — Under the supervision of this 

 department the truck farm survey of Long Island begun a year ago 

 was continued, this being, so far as known, the first systematic survey 

 of vegetable growing to be undertaken by any experiment station. 

 Long Island was selected as being the most favored region in the 

 state for trucking and the data now accumulating promise to be of 

 great interest and value to the men engaged in this industry. Inci- 



