ANNUAL REPORTS. 241 



assistant chemist at the salary allowed. Harry D. Batchelor, 

 Albert C. Blaisdell and Edward H. Goodnow have success- 

 ively occupied the position, the last named being the present 

 incumbent. 



Nov. 1st, 1905--OCT. 31sT, 1906. 



During the first half of the year the department was occu- 

 pied with the study of the soil samples and grass samples 

 collected during the summer of 1905. Studies were made 

 of the content of humus and total fertilizing constituents of 

 the soils, total fertilizing constituents of the grass crop, and 

 water soluble potash in the soils. 



During the past summer, vegetation tests have been car- 

 ried on with two different types of soil, and numerous sam- 

 ples of grasses, forage crops and soils have been prepared 

 for subsequent analysis this winter. The particular phase 

 of the soil problem selected for study, is the availability of 

 the natural potash present in the soil of the College Farm, 

 since there is shown by analysis to be an abundance of that 

 constituent. 



The increasing demand for chemists in manufacturing 

 and pure-food inspection resulted in the resignation of Mr. 

 Goodnow in May. Fortunately for this Experiment Station 

 the Adams Act now renders it possible to pay a more liberal 

 salary, but it was not until almost the end of the present 

 year that the right man could be secured, owing to the bril- 

 liant opportunities now open in agricultural investigation. 

 October 15th Mr. B. E. Curry, M. S., of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, began his duties as Associate Chemist and it is confi- 

 dently hoped that the work of the department will continue 

 some time with no breaks like those of the past. 



A series of analyses of silage crops and silage is published 

 in the following table. The samples were collected and 

 analyzed at the request of the Agriculturist, and were in 

 part done last year and in part this year. 



