18 a EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The composition of every fertilizer is entirely at the discretion 

 of the maker. The law requires simply that the dealer state 

 and guarantee the composition. 



LINES OF INVESTIGATION. 

 Most of the lines of investigation, both of the more general 

 and of the more purely research character, referred to in recent 

 reports are still continued. There have been minor modifica- 

 tions in a number of lines, made desirable by the progress of 

 the inquiry. These changes have in some cases rendered desir- 

 able a restatement for the director of the office of experiment 

 stations in the case of investigations coming under the Adams 

 fund. ISTo enumeration of the lines of investigation, either 

 general or research, seems necessary at this time for reasons 

 which the statements already made must make apparent. 



THE ASPARAGUS SUBSTATION, CONCORD. 



1^0 changes requiring mention have occurred in the general 

 management of the substation for investigations connected with 

 asparagus. Mr. Prescott has efficiently looked after the details 

 of cultivation and the determination of the yields under the 

 varying fertilizer treatments, while Mr. Norton of the depart- 

 ment of agriculture, as heretofore, has had charge of the breed- 

 ing work. 



There was very little rust in 1913 and the same is true of 

 the year 1914. This fact, while somewhat unfavorable from 

 the standpoint of Mr. JSTorton, whose object is the production 

 of rust-resistant varieties, was decidedly favorable to obtaining 

 a true measure of the effects and value of the different fertilizer 

 combinations. The crop of 1914 was much the largest so far 

 obtained, and on several of the best plots was at the rate of 

 about 8,000 pounds per acre. 



Plant-food Requieements. 

 The results obtained in 1914 are in very close agreement with 

 those obtained in 1913; and as they were quite fully stated in 

 the twenty-sixth annual report, it seems unnecessary to make a 



