New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 235 
The number of water analyses during the past year was very 
large, monthly determinations having been made of the drainage 
from the lysimeters, also from Castle brook and the main drain . 
from the experimental plats. Of well waters 25 samples have 
been examined and reported upon; also analysis was made of 
water from one mineral spring, but as none of these are of gen- - 
eral interest, except to the parties interested, they are not 
reported in these pages. 
Of fertilizer and fertilizing ingredients 36 samples have been 
analyzed during the year, while many as yet remain on hand, our 
present laboratory force and crowded accommodations making it 
impossible for us to do the amount of work desired. In fact I 
may say that the work of the chemical department has increased 
to such an extent as to make it impossible to longer carry on the 
work successfully in our present overcrowded quarters, a single 
room in a former dwelling-house, with no proper means of venti- 
lation or ridding the room of obnoxious fumes and gases; nor can 
there be the proper appliances in a room of this kind for conduct- 
ing investigations with the present-needs of the Station. In the 
report of Mr. Wheeler will also be found the results of other 
chemical work connected with the subjects specially investigated 
by him. 
FODDER ANALYSES. 
In the analysis of foods the chemist separates each food into 
several parts, to each of which he gives;separate names, such as 
ash, albuminoids, water, etc., according as they fulfill certain 
functions in plant and animal growth. We give, substantially as 
printed in the last report, the terms in use: 
Water.—The loss in weight of a fodder by drying, usually at 
100° to 110° C. (212° to 230° F.), is due to the moisture or water 
which the fodder contains. 
Ash.—That part of the fodder which remains after burning 
constitutes the ash or mineral matter. The ash ingredients form 
the solid matter of the animal frame-work — bones—and occur 
also in small quantities in the muscles, blood, etc. Lime, phos- 
phoric acid, potash, etc., constitute the mineral elements of the ash. 
- Albuminoids.— The albuminoids are the principal nitrogenous 
portion of fodders —the muscle-formers — sometimes also called 
protein. The albuminoids are not known to be definite compounds, 
