118 HKrOHT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The state le«i;islatuiv of IDO!) jja^sed an act appropriating $10,000 

 foi- the |Mii-cliase and ecpiipinetit of a farm, and r('(|nirin<j the station 

 to I'onchic't there experiments in orehardin<i: i»"d on the cnhure of corn 

 lUid other farm crops. The Ili^hmoor i'ai-m at Monmouth (PL 11, 

 fi^. 2), about 100 miles southwest of lian<;()r, was purchased for the 

 purpose, and it is phmned to be<>jin work in ID 10. The farm con- 

 sists of 225 acres, of which ()0 acres are now in apple orchards, 

 75 acres additional under tillage, and the balance in pasture and 

 woods. The station work in orchard management, owing to lack of 

 facilities, has been interrupted for three years, but will now be taken 

 up again on this farm by the newly appointed associate hortic\ilturist. 

 The State has also provided for printing the bulletins and reports 

 i)i the station, an appropriation of $4,500 per annum having been 

 made for this purpose. 



In its A(hims fund work the Maine Station has made good i)rog- 

 ress. The poultry investigations have pointed out tliat egg pro- 

 ductivity is inherited in a manner not hitherto recognized for sex- 

 ually reproducing animals. Breeding work based on the knowledge 

 gained has been inaugurated. A thorough study has also been made 

 of a series of factors which influenced the fertility of eggs, and it 

 has been demonstrated that the hatching quality of fertile eggs is a 

 character which is definitely inherited. Progress in a physiological 

 study of the oviduct in a laying hen is reported and the data col- 

 lected will soon be published as a monographic account of the correla- 

 tion and development of the hen's egg, such as size, bulk, color, and 

 fertility. A study of the Mendelian principles of transmission is 

 being made in crosses between Indian Game and Barred Plymouth 

 Rock fowls, about 100 fowls being under observation. 



The results of breeding work with sweet, dent, and flint corn seem 

 to indicate that enviromnent is a more potent factor than heredity, 

 and that local adjustment is necessary in corn improvement. Ad- 

 vance in time of maturity secured through selection was not held 

 when the corn w^as grown in other localities. The work of the ento- 

 mologist on the plant lice of Maine, especially the pea aphis {Maero- 

 siphum pid), the potato aphis {M. solanifoUi), and Pemphigus 

 tessellata, has been continued as a project under the Adams fund. 

 The investigation of fungus gnats, Mycetophilida% with reference 

 to their life history, economic relationships, morphology, and ecology 

 was also taken up as an Adams project. 



In studying the blackleg disease of potatoes, the organism which 

 also causes a soft rot of the tubers has been isolated and a typical 

 form of the disease prpduced by inoculations with pure cultures. 

 The vegetable pathologist in his investigations on the interrelation 

 of leaf spots, fruit rots, and canker of apple trees has made a dis- 

 tinct contribution to the life history of Coryneum foliicolum and 



