22 a EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



to manufacturers and dealers on the one hand and to consumers 

 on the other. 



Detailed reports on the control work will be found in the 

 report of the chemist, Dr. J. B. Lindse}'. 



LIXES OF WORK. 



The lines of experiment and research followed for the past 

 few years, and referred to in recent reports, have been con- 

 tinued. One new research problem has been taken up. This 

 is in the poultry department. Provision for a breeding house 

 was made by legislative appropriation in 1912, and with the 

 coming of Dr. Goodale in February a study of some of the 

 more important problems connected with the inheritance of 

 such charcteristics as fertility, hatchability and fecundity was 

 begun. 



Another new line of inquiry has been undertaken during 

 the year. This was made possible only by the rental of land 

 for the purpose. The work in view is to determine by most 

 careful experiment the rate of availability of the phosphoric 

 acid of basic slag meal. The experiment is part of a plan 

 recommended by the committee appointed by the Association 

 of Official Agricultural Chemists. Thirteen other experiment 

 stations are co-operating. This work is in direct charge of 

 our fertilizer chemist, H. D. Haskins. 



GejStekal Experiments. 



An idea of the general work may be gained from the follow- 

 ing enumeration of the principal lines of inquiry. These 

 are: — 



Soil tests with fertilizers with different crops in rotation; 

 comparison of different materials available as sources, respec- 

 tively, of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash for both field 

 and garden crops, with a view to determining the ultimate 

 effects of each on soil chemistry, biology and physics ; results 

 of the use of different forms of lime; systems of fertilizing 

 mowings and orchards ; trial of different manures and fertilizers 

 for both tree and bush fruits ; methods of applying manures ; 



