Feb., 1925] PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 33 



nitrate in the two previous years showed no apparent improvement, indicating 

 that the effect of the nitrate is for one season only. On the other hand, the 

 plots which had received lime or grass seed were in better condition than the 

 check plots. 



Alfalfa. 



The one-acre plot of alfalfa seeded in 1923 was cut twice, the first time on 

 June 26 and the second on August 8. On account of dry weather the second 

 cutting was very Ught. A good third cutting could have been made about 

 October 1, but this was considered too late for the alfalfa to recruit itself for 

 winter quarters. 



The strip which was unlimed showed plainly, the plants being short, scatter- 

 ing, and unhealthy in appearance. No difference, however, could be noted in 

 the halves inoculated with soil and with commercial culture, both proving 

 effective. The half which was seeded in June with oats as a nurse crop seemed 

 to be a little more vigorous and mature than the half seeded the first of August 

 alone. Where the land is free from weeds the practice of early seeding with a 

 nurse crop is to be commended. Besides getting as good or a better stand by 

 this method, one can count on securing from one to one and a half tons of hay 

 per acre from the nurse crop. 



Five acres of Grimm alfalfa were sown in the field adjacent to the one-acre 

 plot on June 19, 1924. Half of this piece was inoculated with soil and half with 

 commercial culture secured from the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. D. A. 

 In August, better than a ton of oat hay per acre was cut. The alfalfa stood a 

 foot high in October, and went into winter quarters in good condition. An- 

 other tract of five acres in the same field is to be seeded in June, 1925. 



MISCELLANEOUS INCOME PROJECTS. 



White Diarrhea Testing. 



Approximately 40,000 samples were taken in the white diarrhea testing 

 work. The income received from this work has paid all the expenses. The 

 Poultry Department now has eighty-seven names on its accredited list, and 

 this should mean a larger and larger number of chickens each year which will be 

 produced from these flocks and which will be free from white diarrhea. The 

 requirement is now made that each man whose flock is on the accredited list 

 have 25 per cent of his breeding birds tested each year in order to safeguard 

 against any possible chance infection. 



It seems probable that from now on approximately 25,000 to 30,000 birds will 

 be tested annually, and most of this testing will be done on the accredited farms. 

 The state has been quite well covered, and there will probably be comparatively 

 few new flocks to be tested. " The very fact that we have so many free flocks 

 and that these flocks have disseminated so much of their stock," reports Prof. 

 A. W. Richardson, "leads me to believe that practically all of the larger flocks 

 of chickens in the state are either free or practically free from any white diar- 

 rhea infection." 



