120 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



A rc'i)()r( of the reccijits and t'xpt'iidilures for the United States 

 funds has been rendered in accordance with tlic schedules prescribed 

 by this Dei)artnient and has been approved. 



The Maine Station is prosecutin*; scientilic and practical lines of 

 Avork in an etf'ective numner. and with the <;ratifyin<^ aid of tiie 

 State is prej^ared to enter upon even broader fields of usefulness. 



MARYLAND. 



Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, College Park. 



Department of Maryland Agricultural College. 



H. J. Patterson, B. S., Director. 



The Maryland Station made steady progress during; the j^oar in 

 broadening and strengthening its work mainly along the lines pur- 

 sued in previous years. Some additions to equipment and some 

 changes in the staff were made. N. Schmitz, of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry of this Department, was appointed agronomist. G. E. Ga^ge, 

 of Yale University, was appointed associate biologist to investigate 

 poultry diseases, and a well-equipped laboratory was fitted up for 

 this purpose. C. W. Melick resigned as dairyman, and P. M. Novik, 

 assistant horticulturist, w'as killed December 9 in a railroad accident. 

 A. L. Stabler, a graduate of the college, was appointed assistant in 

 animal husbandry in connection with investigations with hogs and 

 sheep. R. B. Mayo, assistant pathologist, resigned to engage in 

 private work. Frank Kent succeeded the late J. K. Owens as treas- 

 urer of the college and station. Shortly after the close of the year 

 L. W. Fetzer, assistant chemist, resigned to accept a position in this 

 Office. Considerable improvement was made in the equipment for 

 the poultry investigations. 



The Adams fund projects of the station were increased by the 

 addition of a study of the rate of diffusion of different lime com- 

 pounds in the soil and of the effect of the internal application of 

 different substances on the structure and physiology of plants. Work ' 

 on the older projects, namely, those relating to city milk supplies, 

 parasitic hymenoptera with special reference to the Braconida?, effects 

 of fertilizers on cell structure of plants, and embryology of chickens, 

 was actively carried on during the year. The investigations on poul- 

 try diseases were materially modified and now include, instead of 

 studies of specific diseases, a fundamental inquiry into the bacterial 

 flora of chickens in health and disease, beginning with observations 

 on the bacterial and animal parasites in the intestinal contents of 

 healthy fowls from incubation to maturity. As in previous years, 

 much the larger proportion of the Adams fund Avas devoted to the 

 investigations relating to milk supply and embryology and diseases 

 of chickens. 



