ANNUAL REPORT, 1936 13 



Onion Breeding. (William G. Colby and Hrant M. Yegian.) The past 

 summer was decidedly unfavorable for breeding work. Seed production was 

 poor, and bulbs produced from "sets" and "transplants" suffered severely 

 from "blast." However, more than 400 lots of bulbs were produced from seed 

 and several of these lots showed promise of being superior in type and quality. 

 One strain showed several bulbs segregating for a leaf type similar to that of 

 the Sweet Spanish onion. Since the Sweet Spanish onion seems to show 

 greater resistance to thrips injury, the finding of this leaf character segregating 

 in the breeding material appears significant. 



Experimentation with Artificial Manure. (Karol J. Kucinski and 

 Walter S. Eisenmenger.) Certain phases of the experiments with artificial 

 manures reported in 1935 were continued. As a possible way to get rid of house- 

 hold garbage and leaves, and at the same time put them to good use, a combi- 

 nation of these materials was used in making artificial manure. The addition of 

 the garbage to the leaves, besides greatly aiding and hastening the decomposi- 

 tion, made the manure a richer plant-food carrier. 



Several of the different kinds of artificial manures were applied as top- 

 dressing to a mixed hay field. The percentage of clover in the stand and the 

 yields increased greatly on the treated plots. The yields are listed below. 



Yield of Hay Grown on Plots with Artificial Manure T 'op-Dressing 



Yields on 

 Plot treatment with manure made from — dry basis 



Pounds per 

 Acre 



Straw and cyanamid 

 Corn stover and cyanamid .. 

 Straw and ammonium sulfate 

 Garbage with leaves and cyanamid 

 Untreated plot .... 



5,101 

 5,227 

 4,541 

 6,265 

 3,363 



The plant nutrients in the various artificial manures were determined by 

 chemical analysis and are reported in Table 1. 



Table 1. — Plant Nutrients in Artificial Manure 



"Oven-Dry Basis" 110° C. 



Oven-Dry Manure Oven-Dry Basis 

 Weight of 



wet manure Nitrogen P2O5 K2O 



pile Pounds Percent Percent Perctnt Percent 

 Manure made from — Pounds 



Corn and ammonium sulfate 2,965 568 19.16 1.85 1.58 2.50 



Corn and cyanamid 3,433 746 21.74 1.96 1.68 2.52 



Straw and ammonium sulfate 2,880 540 18.76 2.21 1.62 2.75 



Straw and cyanamid 2,723 533 19.59 2.58 1.59 2.51 



Leaves and ammonium sulfate 2,671 727 27.22 1.80 1.20 1.15 



Leaves and cyanamid 2,513 724 28.81 1.72 1.56 1.20 



Leaves, garbage and cyanamid — — 28.49 3.08 4.14 3.20 



Enough of each organic material was used to supply 1 .000 pounds of dry matter. 



In order to study the reason for the slow rate of decomposition of leaves when 

 they are used in making artificial manure, lignin and cellulose determinations 

 were made, with results shown in Table 2. The percentage of lignin was greater 

 in the leaves than in the corn stover or straw. The percentage of cellulose, on 



