158 REPORT OF OIFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



LINES OF WORK. 



The work of the North Carolina Station during the past year has 

 included sugar-beet investigations in cooperation with the Bureau of 

 Chemistry of this Department; studies on the availability of nitrogen 

 in different forms, the effect of composting on plant food, and the 

 minimum food requirements of corn, cotton, sweet potatoes, and a 

 renovating crop; studies in animal nutrition, including determinations 

 of the digestibility of various feeding stuffs and of the composition of 

 cotton-seed meal; investigations on the determination of pentosoids; 

 chemical work on ash analysis in cooperation with the Association of 

 Official Agricultural Chemists of the United States and the Bureau 

 of Chemistry of this Department; orchard work; experiments in the 

 production of bulbs and roses for the Northern trade; studies of edible 

 and poisonous mushrooms; studies and identification of fungus and 

 bacterial diseases of cultivated crops, especially anthracnose on dew- 

 berries and a disease of summer cabbages known as "yellowsides;" 

 entomological work; duplicate plat experiments with forage crops, 

 cotton, peas, and soy beans on both old and new land to determine 

 how best to restore lost fertility and how to conserve virgin fertility; 

 fertilizer, cultural, and variety experiments with the principal farm 

 crops; variety tests with grasses and sweet potatoes and experiments 

 in the hybridization of orange trees in cooperation with the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry of this Department. The station is cooperating with 

 farmers in experiments with corn, cotton, and rice, and has under- 

 taken cooperative experiments with the Bureau of Chemistry of this 

 Department on the influence of environment on the sugar content of 

 muskmelons. In cooperation with both the Bureau of Soils of this 

 Department and the State department of agriculture, the station is 

 conducting a soil survey to ascertain the definite location and extent 

 of the type soil areas of the State. 



During the year the station has been reorganized. The State legis- 

 lature at its last session put both the college and station under control 

 of the State board of agriculture. The president of the college retired 

 from the directorship of the station and in accordance with his sug- 

 gestion, B. W. Kilgore, chemist in charge of the State fertilizer 

 inspection under the board of agriculture, was made director. The 

 latter, however, will retain charge of the inspection. The agricultur- 

 ist resigned and was succeeded by Dr. C. W. Burkett, of New Hamp- 

 shire. The station staff was also materially strengthened by the 

 appointment of a veterinarian in charge of animal husband^, a botan- 

 ist, and a poultryman. 



INCOME. 



The income of the station during the past fiscal year was as follows: 



United States appropriation $15, 000. 00 



Farm products 434. 01 



Miscellaneous 262. 38 



Total 15, 696. 39 



