154 KEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Good proji:ress was made by this .station in the study of ]iroblems 

 of the fjreatest importance to the agriculture of tlie Territory, and 

 the results are contributing in an inijiortant way to the advancement 

 of the farming interests of the entire southern plateau region. 



NEW YORK. 



New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva. 



W. II. Jordan, D. Sc, Director. 



The principal investigations of the New York Station during the 

 year differed very little from those outlined in the last report. The 

 State granted an appropriation of $10,000 for a study of grape 

 production in Chautauqua County, including methods of culture and 

 the ravages of insect pests and fungi. No material change was made 

 in the equipment of the station nor in its staff of workers. 



The Adams fund of the station was applied entirely to studies on 

 the function of phytin in animal nutrition and to investigations on 

 cheese bacteria and the changes they induce. Progress was made 

 in both of these lines of work. In the work on phytin, an endeavor 

 was made to determine whether the acid radical or the base end is 

 responsible for the physiological effects observed when it is fed to 

 animals. Calcium salt of phytin tried on a cow had no effect, and 

 the studies were extended to other farm animals. The bacteriological 

 changes occurring in the process of cheese curing, and the changes 

 in the chemical composition which take place during the entire 

 period of the ripening process, were studied a second time in the 

 past year. The chemist, who cooperates with the bacteriologist in 

 this project, gave special attention to casein salts. 



The greater number of investigations at this station were conducted 

 with the Hatch and state funds. The horticultural department con- 

 tinued its work on fruit as a main feature. Considerable attention 

 was given to the preparation of a monographic work on plums in 

 New York. The station maintains a collection of 15,000 varieties of 

 fruit, which is held to be of the greatest value in making accurate 

 descriptions of varieties in issuing these monographs. In addition 

 to these lines of work, forcing house studies in plant nutrition, fer- 

 tilizer experiments with apples, tests of tillage and sod mulch in 

 apple orchards, observations on the growth of dwarf apple trees 

 and of grapevines on resistant stocks, cultural and fertilizer experi- 

 ments with grapes, extensive studies in plant breeding and green- 

 house studies with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and muskmelons 

 were pursued. 



The chemist studied the soluble constituents of milk by filtering 

 milk with the Briggs apparatus and determining the constituents 



