PROGRESS OF THE STATIONS. 53 



where Bermuda grass grown from seed is a failure, the station has 

 selected hardy strains of this plant and has worked out an easy 

 method of proi^agating it by means of sod planting. 



The improvement of tobacco b}^ breeding, its culture, and its cur- 

 ing are receiving attention from a number of stations, with note- 

 worthy results. A new method of corn culture, which diminishes the 

 size of the stalk by stunting the growth in the early stages by with- 

 holding cultivation and fertilizers, has been tested with success by 

 several of the stations in the South. Under certain conditions the 

 method appears to give increased yields of corn, with much less 

 fodder. 



The large amount of attention to problems relating to the soil and 

 to soil fertility is one of the newer developments in station work. 

 This work is not confined to systems of management, rotations, cul- 

 ture, and the economical use of fertilizers, but extends to funda- 

 mental studies of such factors as humus, humus formation, the biol- 

 ogy of the soil, the agency of micro-organisms in rendering materials 

 available to plants, the associative action of these organisms, and a 

 variety of other questions of first importance to a clearer understand- 

 ing of this great subject. In several States appropriations have been 

 made for soil surveys, including a study of the soil types. These 

 studies are usually supplemented by field experiments to determine 

 the methods of improvement, carried out on various soil types and in 

 pot cultures at the station. Closely related to this work is the study 

 of inoculation for legumes, which has been in progress for some time 

 and is continued to learn more about the conditions of inoculation 

 and the cultures, the effect of nitrogen assimilation upon the compo- 

 sition and growth of the plant, and a variety of other questions. 



The concerted action throughout the Southern States under the 

 cooperation of the Bureau of Animal Industry and with a Federal 

 appropriation, looking to the eradication of the tick transmitting 

 Texas fever, is a very important development in its jDractical and 

 scientific aspects. This effort grew in large measure out of the initi- 

 ative of the stations in working out methods for successful eradication 

 and in arousing public interest in the matter. The stations are tak- 

 ing an active part in this work and are contributing by their labora- 

 tory studies of the tick's habits, as well as b}^ assistance in actual 

 eradication. 



The year has been marked by increased attention on the part of 

 the stations to the scientific study of farm sanitation in farmhouse, 

 stable, and dairy, and there has been further growth of the tendency 

 toward the development of more advanced studies of the funda- 

 mental principles of the nutrition of farm animals, as exempli- 

 fied probably in their highest form in work with the respiration 

 calorimeter. 



