121 



Experiments muler uvifj. — Work "was h(\i>iiii with an a])pro])riation 

 from T'nivcrsity funds made by the board of regents fluly 1, 1887. 

 An experiment in subterranean irrigation, conchicted on two plats 

 of one-foi'tieth of an acre each, is l)i-ie{ly described. Soil ther- 

 mometers and othei- nieteor(<l(>i>if'al apparatus ha^■e been i)ut in place 

 and a lysimeler built. Arrangements have l)een made for a lysimeter 

 Avitli an aitilicial water-table, to make the movements of the water 

 similar to those in natural soil. A vliagram sliows the Station gardiMi 

 divided into plats on which grasses, clovers, forage plants, garden 

 vegetables, grains, potatoes, and corn liax'e i)een phinted. 



Detdil-H of the fdriii. — This includes a diagram and accounts of the 

 subdivisions of the University farm, with notes on the crops grown 

 ni different fields, from 1884 to 1888, and on the orchards and groves. 



Live stock. — Pedigrees and descrij^tions of four bulls and seventeen 

 cows and heifers of the Station herd, a tabular statement of observa- 

 tions during the past three years upon the period of gestation of cows 

 of different breeds and the weight of their calves at birth, and an 

 account of observations on the persistency of color in swine. 



Buildhu/s. — These are a square frame building 40 by 40 feet, a one- 

 story cottage, tAvo barns, a w^agon house, corn crib, and piggery. A 

 new piggery is described in detail with diagrams. 



Field experimexts and obsekvatioxs for the year 1888, J. G. 

 Smith, B. S. (pp. 81-84). — With reference to what the Nebraska Sta- 

 tion must do, it is remarked that — 



Nebraska is one vast farm. In exeliange for the i>roducts of the manufactory, 

 for coal and iron- and the fruits of the loom, she offers food supplies and raw 

 material. In tlic older States of the E]ast and South, where the land has been 

 cultivated for more than a hundred years and methods of agriculture have 

 become established, it is no longer an unans\\ered query whether this or that 

 cereal, vegetable, or forage plant can be successfully grown. But in the newer 

 States of the West, States which have been but recently reclaimed from the 

 "Great American Desert." the questions continually arise: What will do well 

 with us? ("an we jirotitably plant the same crops that we planted before we 

 " came West? " Will Eastern grasses and clovers provide us with hay, or must 

 we depend on the \\ild grasses for our supply? Are oats and. corn the only sure 

 crops? What vegetables can we plant in our own gardens aud what must we 

 leave for our neighbors to furnish; These and many kindred questions are 

 continually arising, and these are the questions which the Experiment Station 

 must seek tirst to answer. 



Grasses, clovers, and other forage plaiHs (pp. 32—16). — Thirty six 

 plats were sown with grasses. A list of these is given, with notes on 

 each variety. 



The grasses which seem to merit trial by Nebraska farmers are the following, 

 commencing with the earliest: First. Imu (jra^sen — hard fescue, tall fescue, tall 

 oat grass, wild wheat grass, .Johnson's grass, rescue grass, the Mu(»hlenborgs, 

 grama. Second, past lire grasses — sheep's fescue, meadow foxtail, English blue- 

 grass, red fescue, redtop. perennial rye, grama. All the experiments showed 

 the extreme fertility of Nebraska soil and the adaptability of the great grass 

 family to it. 



