6 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



place of corn for silage when impossible to secure a crop of 

 corn. Experiments were also made in growing mixtures of 

 legumes and non-legumes, in order to increase the amount 

 of protein in the several forage crops, in the hope that the 

 farmer would not require to purchase so much grain. Long- 

 fellow corn and black cow peas were sown, yielding at the 

 rate of 23 tons to the acre. 



The entomological division has been chiefly occupied with 

 the elm-leaf beetle ; the brown-tail moth, which now covers 

 an area of twelve hundred square miles, extending into Maine 

 and New Hampshire ; the gypsy moth, which, since the 

 abandonment of the crusade against it, is now reappearing 

 in the places from which it was surely being driven out ; 

 and the San Jose scale, which is now found in fifty-two local- 

 ities in Massachusetts, and is attacking not only nurseries 

 but all deciduous trees and shrubs. In one place, covering 

 an area of five square miles, nearly every tree and shrub are 

 affected. It would seem as if these four pests had come to 

 stay, and three of them are spreading over the State with 

 great rapidity. How to preserve our noble trees and fruitful 

 orchards is the question that comes to all of us. 



The botanical division has pursued its investigations in 

 the sterilization of soil, examining into the various methods 

 in use and the cost of the same. Desiccation or drying of 

 the soil was found to increase the activity of the drop fungus, 

 and on lettuce resulted in a stunted growth and an abnor- 

 mally colored and worthless crop. . The chrysanthemum 

 rust, though very widely spread, is not considered of serious 

 consequence, because it passes through only one stage, the 

 uredo, and hence does not gain a strong foothold. The 

 remedy seems to lie in selection of rust-free stock and inside 

 cultivation, the latter being due to avoidance of mist and dew 

 on the foliage, and therefore furnishing a less favorable 

 opportunity for the spores to germinate and cause injury. 



Three melon diseases have been recognized and studied, 

 one a leaf blight, and two affecting both leaves and fruit. 

 They have been particularly severe the past year, complaints 

 coming from every part of the State. In general, the 

 remedies seem to lie in maturing the crop as early as possible 



