38 a EXPERIMENT STATION. • [Jan. 



the immediate direction of the originator without any apparent 

 effect, either beneficial or otherwise. 



The following articles by a member of the department staff, 

 based on station work, have been published during the year: — 



J. K. Shaw: The Root System of Nursery Apple Trees. Society for 

 Horticultural Science, Proceedings, 12, 68 (1913). 



J. K. Shaw: The Origin of the Hubbardston Apple. Society for Horti- 

 cultural Science, Proceedings, 12, 141 (1915). 



J. K. Shaw: Fruit Trees True to Name. Rural New Yorker, LXXVI. 

 (1915), p. 1479. 



J. K. Shaw: Identification of Varieties among Nursery Apple Trees. 

 American Nurseryman, Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 24, August, 1916. 



Department of Microbiology. 



The investigational work in this department during the year 

 has been carried on under peculiar disadvantages on account of 

 the lack of laboratory facilities due chiefly to the great delay in 

 the completion of the new building, though aggravated by the 

 fire which interrupted work in the temporary quarters which 

 had been in use. As a consequence of the conditions referred to, 

 investigational work is only just beginning in earnest. 



Dr. Van Suchtelen will undertake fundamental investigation 

 relative to the humus content of soils. 



Good progress has been made in industrial research investiga- 

 tions supported by the De Laval Separator Company. Results 

 obtained to date are deemed by the company to be of sufficient 

 value to warrant still larger expenditure and the employment of 

 additional assistants. 



The department has done important work for the local board 

 of health and the physicians of the town, and has made bac- 

 terial counts on a large number of samples of milk which have 

 been offered in contest at a number of important dairy exhibits. 



Department of Poultry Husbandry. 



The more important lines of investigation in this department 



relate to some of the many problems connected with breeding, 



and in all probability must be long continued before the ends in 



view can be reached. The report for the poultry husbandry 



