NEW YORK. 157 



efficient investigator in his field. A number of assistants were em- 

 ployed during the year; otherwise no changes on the station staff 

 occurred. At the close of the fiscal year L. H. Bailey was given 

 leave of absence for the ensuing academic year, during which time 

 H. J. Webber serves as acting dean and director. 



The facilities as well as the personnel for Adams fund work were 

 increased during the year. In connection with these projects a large 

 amount of breeding work was done principally with phlox, tomato, 

 pepper, verbena, and certain other plants, for the purpose of study- 

 ing heredity and segregation of hybrids. Studies of mutations and 

 their influence in the production of varieties included an extensive 

 examination of chemical injections on a pure line of wild Silene. An 

 investigation of the causes and range of variations, including studies 

 of variation in wild and cultivated plants under varying conditions, 

 was conducted with timothy, peas, buckwheat, wheat, oats, and other 

 crops under different soil and fertilizer conditions. With potatoes a 

 study was made of bud variation and of the possibility of fixing and 

 transmitting certain types by selection. 



The soil fertility project included pot culture experiments with 

 wheat and oats, and a study of poor spots in soils to determine the 

 reason of their existence. Bacteriological studies of the flora of these 

 soils were also carried on. Lime and inoculation experiments with 

 alfalfa were conducted as part of this project to determine whether 

 the plant gives up nitrogen to the soil while it is growing. Timothj'^ 

 grown with alfalfa contained a higher nitrogen content than that 

 grown alone, and the difference was greater on a soil well supplied 

 with lime than with one deficient in that constituent. 



The entomological work under the Adams Act was confined to a 

 study of the joint-worm flies infesting grains and grasses. It was 

 considered necessary to extend this project to include certain closely 

 allied insects infesting various seeds. Two species of these seed- 

 infestins: chalcis flies were found to be of considerable economic 

 importance, and the result of the study of this phase of the subject 

 was published in bulletin form." 



The Hatch fund work included fertilizer experiments with tim- 

 othy in rotation with corn, oats and wheat, observations on the effect 

 of weeds on corn, experiments with lime and inoculation for alfalfa, 

 and breeding work with timothy, corn, oats, wheat, and cowpeas. 



It was found that the growth of alfalfa increased the nitrifying 

 power of the soil, and that this was more marked on a soil well 

 supplied with lime than one deficient in the latter. Certain non- 

 leguminous crops exhibited definite relations to the formation of 

 nitrates in the soil, but this property differed with different crops. 



"New York Cornoll Sta. r.iil. 20,',. 



