10 June, 1918.] American Agriculture. 349 



An interesting feature of the division was a collection of all the 

 meters used in measuring water. These are fed from a reservoir, and 

 the students make comparisons of the rate of flow from each meter. . 



Large numbers of soil samples are taken during the irrigation season 

 to various depths, to determine the depth of penetration of water in 

 various fields and on various crops with different systems of irrigation. 

 These soil samples are taken with special 2-inch soil augers, obtained 

 from the Sacramento Implement Company, Sacramento, California, 

 and the investigations are very helpful in establishing the maximum 

 duty of water with various types of crops. 



Pomology. — This division includes horticulture. The work com- 

 prises instruction and research. Research work is being conducted on 

 24 projects, included in the 360 projects outlined above. The experi- 

 ments comprise pruning, pollination experiments and bud studies, the 

 effect of mulching and various types of cultivation on crop yields — til- 

 lage tests, the proper distance apart to plant deciduous trees. 



Moreover, small orchards have been planted at all distances apart, 

 from 12 X 12 to 36 x 36, to determine the best distance apart to produce 

 the maximum yield for each type of tree. 



Very complete records are taken of the blooming period of every 

 variety of tree. A feature of the horticultural branch is a card index 

 system, with cards for each tree, showing its history and treatment 

 annually since it was planted. 



Sixty acres of the farm are devoted to these various tests, and the 

 chief types of trees grown are plum, peach, apricot, prune, almond, 

 and cherry. The apple does not thrive at Davis. 



Poultry Division. — At present 25 men were specializing in poultry 

 keeping. This is about half the normal number. 



The equipment comprises two lecture rooms, incubator room, stor- 

 age rooms, candling rooms, two laboratories. 



Several thousand birds, mostly white leghorns, were kept for instruc- 

 tion purposes. Three dozen incubators, of ten diffei-ent makes, each 

 incubator with a capacity of 150 eggs,/were used for practice in incubation. 



On the whole, the equipment was good, but notably lacking in many 

 of the labour-saving devices to be found on the suburban poultry farms 

 near Melbourne. Trap-nesting was adopted to determine the laying pro- 

 pensities of the best hens. No single pens had been installed for test- 

 ing the birds. 



Agro7iomy. — This division had the usual complete equipment of 

 lecture rooms, laboratory rooms, and offices. The laboratories were well 

 equipped with specimen crops of all kinds for instructional purposes. 

 The field plots were very numerous, and consisted of variety tests of all 

 types of dry land and irrigated crops. 



The cereal tests were very like our own, except that they were very 

 much smaller than those at Werribee, varying from 1/40 to 1/100 of 

 an acre. I was rather astonished to find practically every variety of 

 Australian wheat was being tested side by side with American wheats. 

 These Australian varieties were obtained from the New South Wales 

 Department. Rotation and fertilizer tests were carried out, but I have 

 no hesitation in affirming that our Werribee crops were better planned 

 than the Davis permanent plots. On the other hand, they have at 

 Davis a much larger number of tests with the grasses, legumes, and 

 new crops like grain sorghums, than we have. 



