12 N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION. [Bulletin 192 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

 AGRONOMY. 



F. V.-. TAYLOR. 



During this year both assistants in the Department resigned, — one on May 

 1 to accept an appointment as coimty agent of Green Coimty, Ohio, and the 

 other on October 1 to accept a fellowship at Cornell University. The Depart- 

 ment was without the services of an assistant until November 1. 



The time of the members of the Department was divided during the year 



as follows : „, , . 



btuhon, 



College Hatch 



Head 7 tenths 3 tenths 



First Assistant 5 tenths 5 tenths 



Second Assistant 6 tenths 4 tenths 



Present Assistant 6 tenths 4 tenths 



It is impossible to state the exact number of letters of inquiry answered 

 during the year, but a conservative estimate would place it at about 2,500, 

 this work entaihng at least one-fourth of the time of the men. 



One hundred and thirty-six persons were enrolled in the two reading courses 

 offered by the Department. The handling of this work, especially the reading 

 and correction of the papers, required considerable time. 



During the season of 1918 some thirty or forty pubUc addresses were given 

 by the members of the Department, primarily as a war measm-e, on food pro- 

 duction. One regular Bulletin No. 188, and eight Press Bulletins, Nos. 92, 

 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 102 and 111, were published during the year. 



The work in seed testing included 270 official samples collected by the state 

 commissioner of agriculture and 475 samples sent in by farmers, county agents 

 and seed dealers. 



HATCH PROJECTS. 

 Timothy Selection. 



This work was begun in 1914. The object was to make a selection from 

 individual plants of the best and largest yielding strains. Twenty-foiu- 

 hundred different plants have been gro%vn and recorded. During the summer 

 of 1918 a twentieth-acre plot was sown with the seed from twenty of the best 

 timothy plants. This plot will furnish seed for a small field to be sown in the 

 fall of 1919. 



Variety Tests of Ensilage Corn. 



Ten strains or varieties of ensilage corn were grown for a comparison of 

 yields and general adaptabihty. Confirming the results of previous years it 

 was apparent that the medium and earlier varieties like Leaming and N. H. 500 

 q^'ere best suited to this section. 



