EIGHTH AE'E'UAL REPOET 



DIRECTOR OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE AGRICULT- 

 URAL EXPERIMENT STATION AT AMHERST, MASS. 



To the Honorable Board of Control. 



Gentlemen : — The present condition of the State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station may be considered a satisfactory 

 one, as far as buildings and general outfit are concerned. 

 The older buildings are in a good state of repair, and the 

 new ones are well equipped for the purpose they are to 

 serve. 



The experimental work of the past year has Ijeen exten- 

 sive, and in various directions. A favorable season has 

 materially assisted in a successful termination of the work in 

 the field. 



No material changes have been made in regard to different 

 lines of observation, decided upon at the beginning of the 

 year. The details of the management have been carried out, 

 as far as practicable, according to the plans from time to 

 time presented for your consideration. Investigations in 

 the laboratory, the vegetation house, the field and the barn, 

 have received their due share of attention. 



Professor Humphrey has continued his study of fungoidal 

 diseases of plants, in various directions. A detailed descrip- 

 tion of his work in that connection forms a chapter in the 

 annual report. 



A series of field experiments, inaugurated at the close of 

 the past season (1890), for the purpose of studying the 

 effect of different forms of nitrogen and of phosphoric acid 

 on the growth of winter rye and winter wheat, has been sup- 

 plemented by control observations in pots in the vegetation 

 house. 



