■\U HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



A few cultures of nitrogen-assimilating bacteria, sent out 

 by the Department of Agriculture for use with legumes, 

 have been tried, and, so far as can be judged, with disap- 

 pointing results. A bulletin descriptive of this work and 

 the results obtained will be i)repared in due time. 



We have increased the scope of our work with the new 

 and promising varieties of timothy received from Prof. A. 

 D. Hopkins of the West Virginia Experiment Station, five 

 years ago. Several of these are distinct improvements upon 

 the ordinary commercial timothy, and these are being in- 

 creased as rapidly as possible, for the production of seed 

 which will later be furnished to selected farmers for trial. 



Variety work with wheat, oats and barley has engaged 

 considerable attention. Seeds of 31 varieties which for a 

 series of years had given remarkable crops in the Dominion 

 of Canada were kindly donated for the purpose by Dr. Wil- 

 liam Saunders, director, Experimental Farms of Canada. It 

 was hoped that these northern-grown grains might prove 

 valuable, but the results were disappointing. Practically^ 

 all varieties were afiected by rust, and the yields of most 

 were small. The range of variation in the crops obtained 

 was as follows : for wheat, at the rate of from 6 to 15 bushels 

 per acre ; for barley, at the rate of from 6 to 26 bushels 

 per acre ; for oats, at the rate of from 40 to 55 bushels per 

 acre. Among the varieties of oats, the Improved Ligowa, 

 Bavarian, Thousand $ and Wide Awake gave the best yields, 

 — all in excess of 50 bushels. These varieties would seem 

 to be worthy of further attention. 



The work with poultry has been along the same lines as 

 last year, the relations of food combinations to egg produc- 

 tion being the subject under investigation. 



The statement of results obtained, presented in detail in 

 this report, does not cover all the experiments in progress. 



The principal subjects of inquiry discussed, and the more 

 important results, are as follows : — 



I. — To determine the relative value of barnyard manure, 

 nitrate of soda, sulfate of ammonia and dried blood as sources 

 of nitrogen. The crop of this year was })otatoes, and, on 

 the basis of yield, the rank of the nitrogen-furnishing mate- 



