174 REPOKT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



LINES OF WORK. 



The work of the Pennsylvania Station during the past year has 

 included studies of dried brewers' grains, pentosans, the humus con- 

 tent of soils, and methods of analyzing cattle feeds and timothy hay; 

 fertilizer, variety, rotation, and cultural experiments with field crops; 

 fertilizer, cultural, and curing experiments with tobacco; comparisons 

 of soiling crops; botanical study of the influence of smoke and gases 

 upon vegetation for the State department of agriculture; investiga- 

 tions in dairying, including bacteriological studies, an experiment in 

 feeding dehorned cows loose in their pens, and investigations in breed- 

 ing and selecting dairy cattle; and horticulture, especially variet}^ tests, 

 studies of San Jose scale and crown gall, and experiments in the use of 

 hydroc}^anic acid for the destruction of insects and fungi in green- 

 houses. The station has continued to cooperate with the State depart- 

 ment of agriculture in the inspection of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, and 

 seeds, and in experiments in watering and handling fattening steers. 



During the past year a new series of experiments with forage crops, 

 with special reference to their value as soiling crops for feeding dairy 

 cattle, was inaugurated. Closely related to these experiments is a 

 study of the value of manure from fattening cattle and the proportion 

 of it recovered by different methods of handling. The station has 

 taken up the examination of food products for the State daily and 

 food commission. During the year Prof. W. W. Cooke, formerly of 

 the Colorado Agricultural College, has carried on at this station an 

 interesting investigation upqn the relative value of grain as compared 

 with coarse fodder in the maintenance ration of sheep; also a study of 

 fermentations in the digestive canal of ruminants, which seems to indi- 

 cate that the present accepted views on that subject need more or less 

 revision. The agriculturist of the station has published in the Rural 

 Science Series a book on Breeds of Poultry. The respiration calorim- 

 eter constructed for investigations on the nutrition of large animals, 

 in cooperation with the Bureau of Animal Industiy of this Department, 

 is practically completed and preliminary alcohol tests have been quite 

 satisfactory. Great ingenuity and skill have been shown in the con- 

 struction of this large and complicated apparatus and great interest 

 will attach to its experimental use. Members of the station staff 

 devote considerable time to the work of farmers' institutes, State and 

 county fairs, and other lines of public service not directly connected 

 with the work of the station proper. 



INCOME. 



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



United States appropriation $15, 000. 00 



Fees 8, 355. 00 



Farm products 4, 723. 97 



Miscellaneous 95. 46 



Total 28,174.43 



