208 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



WYOMING. 



Wroming Agricultural Experiment Station, Laramie. 



Deimrtuient of the University of Wyoniiug. 



J. D. TowAU, M. S., Director. 



More settled conditions prevailed at this station dnrin*:^ the past 

 year than for several years past, thus permitting more systematic de- 

 velopment of the work of the station. Progress was made in im- 

 proving the farm buildings, for which the last state legislature ap- 

 propriated $8,000, and in reclaiming the alkali soils on the station 

 farm by means of underdrains (in cooperation Avith this Office). 

 As a result of the great increase in chemical work a research assistant 

 in chemistry (L. C. Raiford) was appointed shortly after the close 

 of the fiscal year. 



Active work was done during the year on four well-defined xVdams 

 projects, viz, wool, soil, moisture, alkali, and plants poisonous to 

 sheep. Of these, the wool investigations constitute by far the largest 

 and most important project. Attention was given mainly to a study 

 of the variability'' of representative wool fibers, with a view to estab- 

 lishing a standard, and the effect of various washes and alkaline sub- 

 stances on the properties of the fiber. The alkali investigations were 

 enlarged in scojdc and more clearly defined, and now include studies 

 of certain fundamental problems of soil solutions, which will be a 

 part of the special work of the recently appointed research assistant 

 in chemistry. The studies of the distribution of moisture in the 

 soil as affected by varying conditions were continued in cooperation 

 with this Office on the experimental farm at Cheyenne. A reorgani- 

 zation of this project, locating certain phases of it at Laramie, has 

 been undertaken. A beginning was made in the study of plants 

 poisonous to sheep. Certain important preliminary field observa- 

 tions were made and plans for future scientific work were carefully 

 outlined. 



In addition to this Adams fund work, the station continued co- 

 operation with the Bureau of Animal Industry of this Department in 

 improvement of range sheep as well as experiments in breeding of 

 polled Hereford cattle; feeding experiments with cattle, sheep, and 

 pigs, mainly to test home-grown rations; composition and digestibility 

 of native forage plants, showing the great feeding value of high- 

 altitude plants; irrigation versus dry framing; tests of adaptability 

 of various crops to W^'oming conditions; and relation of the growth 

 of leguminous plants to the nitrogen of the soil. Various lines of 

 plant-breeding work were resumed following the destruction of the 

 experimental crop by hail the previous year, and preparations were 

 made for permanent plats for soil- fertility investigations. 



