100 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The station has successfully continued its demonstration work 

 in spraying private orchards, and the results are being widely applied 

 by fruit growers of the region. 



Among other important investigations are studies of the nature 

 and treatment of the San Jose scale, apple and elm aphis, pear blis- 

 ter mite, peach-leaf curl, and apple scab. There have also been experi- 

 ments with a combination of Bordeaux mixture and arsenicals for 

 apple scab and codling moth, with hot water versus formaldehyde 

 for smut in oats, with formaldehyde for potato scab, with a treatment 

 for the tomato blight which is doing serious injury to the canning 

 business, with the injury to apples by applications of Bordeaux 

 mixture at the time of blossoming, and with the carbon bisulphid 

 treatment for squirrels. 



The horticultural work of this station has been considerably de- 

 veloped during the year. Studies are being made of varieties of 

 apples, pears, and plums, the marketing of apj)les, top grafting, 

 grafting pears on quince stocks, breeding plums, mulching apples, 

 cover crops, fertilizers for orchard fruits and strawberries, forest 

 and fruit tree plantings, pruning, tests of a large number of varieties 

 of tomatoes, cabbage, sweet corn, and strawberries, and a study of 

 the methods of utilizing fruit by-products as in the manufacture 

 of cider, vinegar, etc. 



The work in agronomy has also been extended during the year 

 and includes studies of several new rotations and of the use of 

 manure, mainly Avith a view to finding a substitute for the bare 

 faUow so generally practiced in the region. Tests and development 

 by selection and crossing of corn and wheat, potatoes, flax, alfalfa, 

 and other forage plants and grasses, sugar beets for seed, fall and 

 spring seeding of grains, and field and pot experiments to determine 

 the fertilizer requirements of Idaho soils have also been carried on. 



In animal husbandry there has been a study of available feeds 

 for cows and hogs, especially alfalfa and field peas. The breeding 

 of a dual-purpose cow from Shorthorn stock is being continued, 

 and a herd of Angora goats has been secured for use in clearing wild 

 land. 



The university has recently established a school of agriculture, 

 which provides a four-year course preparatory to the regular college 

 work. A four-year course in domestic science has also been added. 



The publications of this station received during the year were: 

 Bulletins 48, Raising calves on separator milk ; 49, Soil temperatures 

 1903^, a summary of weather data 1894-1904; 50, Trap rocks of 

 Pahiuse region as road jnaterial, part 2; 51, Alkali conditions in the 

 Payette Valley; 52, Potato scab; and' 53, Experiments with wheat 

 and oats for smut; a circular on weather data; and the Annual 

 Eeport for 1905. 



