BOSTON, Jan. 9, 1891.

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives.

In accordance with chapter 212 of the Acts of 1882 I have the honor to present the Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Control of the State Agricultural Experiment Station.

WM. R. SESSIONS,

Secretary.

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

DIRECTOR OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION AT AMHERST, MASS.

To the Honorable Board of Control.

GENTLEMEN:- The present condition of the State Agricultural Experiment Station may be considered a satisfactory one, as far as buildings and general outfit are concerned. The older buildings are in a good state of repair, and the new ones are well equipped for the purpose they are to

serve.

The experimental work of the past year has been extensive, and in various directions. A favorable season has materially assisted in a successful termination of the work in the field.

No material changes have been made in regard to different lines of observation, decided upon at the beginning of the year. The details of the management have been carried out, as far as practicable, according to the plans from time to time presented for your consideration. Investigations in the laboratory, the vegetation house, the field and the barn, have received their due share of attention.

Professor Humphrey has continued his study of fungoidal diseases of plants, in various directions. A detailed description of his work in that connection forms a chapter in the annual report.

A series of field experiments, inaugurated at the close of the past season (1890), for the purpose of studying the effect of different forms of nitrogen and of phosphoric acid on the growth of winter rye and winter wheat, has been supplemented by control observations in pots in the vegetation house.

A number of reputed fodder crops, more or less new to the soil of Massachusetts, have been studied with regard to their adaptation to our climate and soil. Some of these have been raised in sufficient quantity to test their services as green fodder or hay for milk production.

Feeding experiments with milch cows with reference to an economical production of milk, and with young pigs for a remunerative production of pork, have been continued.

Considerable attention has been paid to the cost of the feed for the production of mutton and beef.

The work in the chemical laboratory has been, as usual, quite large, and for different purposes. The chemical analyses made at the station laboratory during the entire year, aside from four hundred analyses for the Hatch Station of the Agricultural College, number some nine hundred. Of these, from three hundred to four hundred were made at the special request of farmers in the State. They include analyses of fertilizers, fodder articles, well water, milk, etc.

The details of the work carried on in the directions previ- · ously stated are recorded in the subsequent pages of the annual report for 1890, under the following headings:

FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.

I. Two feeding experiments with milch cows.

1.

Some general remarks on our previous feeding experiments with milch cows.

2. Feeding experiment with milch cows, to compare the value of old-process linseed meal with that of newprocess linseed meal.

3. Feeding experiment with milch cows, to compare the economical value of reputed fodder crops, - vetch and

4.

oats, and soja bean,-when fed as green fodder in part or in whole for English hay.

Creamery record for 1889 and 1890.

II. Feeding experiments with lambs, to ascertain the cost of feed when fattening lambs, by means of winter fodder rations, for the meat market.

III. Feeding experiments with pigs,-skim-milk, corn meal, corn and cob meal, wheat bran and gluten meal, serving as fodder ingredients of the daily diet.

IV. Fodder analyses, 1890.

FIELD EXPERIMENTS.

V. Some suggestions regarding the question, How can we improve in an economical way the productiveness of our farm lands?

VI. Experiments to ascertain the effect of different combinations of nitrogen on oats.

VII. Field experiments with prominent grasses and leguminous plants, to study their composition and general economical value.

VIII. Field experiments with reputed field and garden crops, to ascertain their adaptation to our soil and climate.

IX. Field experiments to study the economy of using different commercial sources of phosphoric acid for manurial purposes in farm practice, potatoes.

SPECIAL WORK IN THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY.

XIII. Analyses of licensed commercial fertilizers.

XIV. Miscellaneous analyses of material sent on for examination. XV. Water analyses.

XVI. Compilation of fodder analyses, with reference to fodder constituents and fertilizing constituents; analyses of industrial products, garden crops, fruits, etc., made at Amherst, Mass.

The periodical publications of the station have been as numerous as in previous years. The circulation of bulletins and annual reports is steadily increasing.

In closing, it becomes a pleasing duty to acknowledge that the successful termination of the work carried on at the station during the past year is largely due to the industry and faithful execution of the various tasks assigned to all parties associated with me for that purpose.

With the assurance of my sincere thanks for your kind indulgence, permit me to sign,

Yours very respectfully,

C. A. GOESSMANN,

Director of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station.

AMHERST, MASS., Jan. 9, 1891.

ON FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.

1890.

I. Two FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH MILCH Cows.

II. ONE FEEDING EXPERIMENT WITH LAMBS.

III. Two FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH PIGS.
IV.

FODDER ANALYSES.

I.

1. Some general remarks on our previous feeding experiments with milch cows. 2. Feeding experiments with milch cows, to compare the value of old-process linseed meal with that of newprocess linseed meal, when fed pound for pound under otherwise corresponding conditions. 3. Feeding experiments with milch cows, to compare the economical value of reputed fodder crops, vetch and oats, and soja bean, when fed as green fodder in part or in whole as substitutes for English hay. 4. Creamery record for 1889 and 1890.

1. Some General Remarks on our Previously Reported Feeding Experiments with Milch Cows.

A careful examination of our last annual report cannot fail to show that our feeding experiments with milch cows, previous to the close of 1889, were chiefly instituted for the purpose of securing a satisfactory answer to the following questions:

1. What is the comparative feeding effect of dry fodder corn, of dry corn stover, and of a good corn ensilage, when used in part or in the whole as a substitute for English hay (upland meadow hay), in the daily diet of milch cows, and also that of a good root crop in place of corn ensilage; the amount and kind of grain feed remaining, for obvious reasons, the same under otherwise corresponding circumstances?