Numbers 2 and seven are taken as a basis of comparison, because they correspond most nearly to the usual method of preparing seed. HILL AND DRILL PLANTING. Taking hill planting at 100 as a basis of comparison, and drill planting gives 78.8 per cent. This yield is upon adjacent rows, the products having been carefully weighed. To determine the value of the "Worm and Insect Exterminator and Fertilizer," of the Union Fertilizer Company of New York, as a remedy for the Colorado potato beetle, one oz. of the "Fertilizer" was mixed with the earth of each hill of six rows through the center of the field, and for six successive mornings (July 5th to 11th) the vines were sprinkled with a solution of the "Fertilizer." treatment had no visible effect upon the insects. When harvested, an equal number of hills upon tilizer" had been used, but from which the beetles had been picked by hand, yielded 180 lbs.; with "Fertilizer," as above, 164 lbs. This which no "Fer This experiment does not show the value of this substance as a fertilizer, but that it is of no value as a remedy for the Colorado potato beetle. The reason of a smaller yield, is doubtless that the "Fertilizer" did not kill the insects, while upon that with which this plat is compared they were all destroyed by hand picking. In experimenting with the potato beetle, one part by weight of Paris green, mixed with eight parts of wood ashes, was found to be effective in destroying them. Yet, spreading upon land in cultiva tion an active mineral poison, as is the subarsenite of copper, the poisonous properties of which are not destroyed by decomposition of the salt containing them, is, at the best, of doubtful propriety.Hand-picking has given us the most satisfactory results. The cost of this method of destroying the beetles has been $1.25 per acre for each time of picking. The number of times it will be found necessary to pick the beetles, will depend upon warmth and wetness of the season, as they multiply more rapidly in dry, hot weather, Last year five times was not too many. This year three times has been sufficient. 16 1-2 quarts weighed Seed from Department of Agriculture. 25 3-4 lbs. Sowed upon 1-4 of an acre, May 18th, soil rich clay loam, wita clay sub-soil. Growth very rank. Began lodging before heading out. When harvested were three-fourths laid. Crop harvested August 11th and threshed August 19th, yielding 9 bushels. One bushel weighed 27 lbs. The straw was badly affected with rust and mildew. The land upon which these oats were sown would, in ordinary seasons, have been the best we have in cultivation, but the unusual amount of rain this season had an injurious effect upon all our crops planted upon level land, these oats among others. Three other varieties of oats furnished by the Department of Agriculture, the White Schonen, Black Swedish and Somerset, were sown, but the heavy rains ruined them entirely. Of those varieties of cabbage which have been in cultivation, the Schweinfurt Quintal, and Marblehead Drumhead, (cannon ball variety), are the only kinds that promise to be of special value. Lenormand's short-stemmed Cauliflower also promises well. Upon one portion of the land prepared last year for mowing, unleached ashes were sown last spring, at the rate of forty bushels per acre. The estimated yield upon this portion of the field was double that upon any other portion. The grass was mostly Kentucky Blue Grass (Poa pratensis), and white clover; the soil clayey with clay subsoil. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. The Laboratory has been so far completed as to furnish excellent facilities to students in Analytical Chemistry. All necessary apparatus has been purchased so that this department of the University is meeting all the demands made upon it at present, Laboratory practice is elective in all departments of the Univer. sity, except that of Agriculture; yet the number of students desiring instruction in this branch is much larger than last year, and doubtless will continue to increase from year to year. The course of instruction in qualitative analysis is divided into four series, as follows: 1. Simple salts in solution. 2. Simple salts in solid form, including blow-pipe analysis. 3. Mixtures, and double salts in solution, including the separation of bases. 4. Mixtures, complex compounds, soils, ores, and refractory minerals. The four series include one hundred analyses, leading gradually from the most simple to the most complex. BOTANY. After the regular course of lectures in Structural and Systematic Botany, I delivered a course to a class of eighteen special students, upon the minute structure of plants, embracing the use of the microscope, and upon Economic Botany. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. The record of meteorological observations, which for several years has been omitted, was resumed at the beginning of the present year, and is now under my direction. The following tables contain the principal results of the observations to November 1st. The system adopted is that of the Smithsonian Institution, the hours of observation being 7 A. M., 2 P. M., and 9 P. M. The temperature is given in degrees and tenths F. The amount of cloudiness is expressed by a number indicating the The following abbreviations are used: tenths of the sky overcast. St.-Stratus. Cu.-Cumulus. Cir.-Cirrus. Nim.-Nimbus. Cu.-St.-Cumulo-stratus. Cir.-St.-Cirro-stratus. Cir.-Cu-Cirro-cumulus. The direction of the wind is taken for eight points of the compass, the figures accompanying represent the force on a scale from 1, a very light breeze, to 10, a most violent hurricane. In the summary of observations, the winds are classified in four divisions, SW. and W., etc., being placed together, and the percentage of winds from each direction is given for each month. The height of the barometer is indicated by inches and decimals, and corrected for the expansion above 329. The force or pressure of vapor" expresses the weight of moisture in the air, by indicating in inches the height of a column of mercury that is sustained by it. Relative humidity" shows the per cent. of complete saturation existing at the time when the observation is made. Latitude 43 deg., 5 min. N. The season has been a remarkable one in many respects. January and February were mild and pleasant, with only an average amount of snow and rain. March was exceedingly cold and dry. The average temperature for the first half of the month being 6 degrees colder than the mean of either January or February, while the rain-fall was less than half an inch- April was also cold, with less than the usual quantity of rain. During May, June, July and August, 20.69 inches of rain fell, much more than the usual quentity. The summer was very cloudy, and was remarkable for a peculiar haziness of the atmosphere, even when no clouds were visible. The mean temperature of September was but 5 degrees below that of August, which, with the lateness to which the frost held off, added greatly to the value of the corn crop of the country. W. W. DANIELLS, Prof. of Agriculture aud Analytical Chemistry. |