30 a EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



broody during their first year, has been selected and will be 

 used for breeding in the effort to produce a nonbroody strain. 

 Dr. Goodale concludes that if broodiness can be eliminated, the 

 increase in annual egg production may very likely amount to as 

 much as 33| per cent. 



Another point brought out by the work of the year is that 

 chicks reared on new land thrive very much better than those 

 raised on land over which chicks have previously ranged, even 

 if for only a short period of time, and this appears to be true 

 even when the land is not infected with any disease organism. 



Department of Chemistry. 



Besides the usual control bulletins on fertilizers and feeds 

 there have been three bulletins published from this department 

 during the past year: No. 164, "Substitutes for Milk in the 

 Rearing of Dairy Calves and the Cost of Rearing the Dairy 

 Cow;" No. 165, "Effects of Sulfate of Ammonia on Soil;" 

 and No. 166, "Improved Methods for Fat Analysis."* 



The results presented in Bulletin 164 show that there are a 

 number of fairly satisfactory calf feeds which can be used very 

 largely in place of milk in the rearing of dairy calves. The 

 bulletin also describes a home-made combination which seems 

 to serve the purpose equally well. The results bearing upon 

 the cost of rearing a dairy cow indicate that this usually is 

 likely to amount to about $75 to $85 up to the age of two 

 years. 



Bulletin 165 presents results which lead to the conclusion 

 that one of the permanent effects of continuous use of sulfate 

 of ammonia as a fertilizer is that the sulfuric acid enters into 

 combination with calcium in the soil and that as a result there 

 is a considerable loss of lime. The results indicate further that 

 after the lime is to a considerable extent exhausted, there is 

 likely to be a formation of salts of iron and aluminium, and 

 culture studies with seedling plants in solutions to which small 

 quantities of iron or aluminium sulfate were added demon- 

 strated a highly injurious action of these salts on the roots, 

 especially of clover seedlings. These studies throw important 

 light upon the causes of the almost absolute failure of clover on 

 plots in one of our important series of experiments in which 



