REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR.

HON. S. H. ELLIS, President Board of Control:

SIR: I herewith respectfully submit the tenth annual report of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station for the year 1891:

THE SEASON.

A large portion of Ohio was visited by destructive frosts on the nights of the 7th and 17th of May, which killed large fruits almost completely in a broad belt through the northern half of the State and greatly reduced the crop of strawberries. The young growth of grapevines was generally killed, and even hickory trees had their foliage destroyed when in almost full leaf. During August and September the northern half of the State suffered severely from drouth. With these exceptions the season has been generally favorable to the farmer, and the cereal crops have given a full average yield.

THE STATION'S WORK.

The general work of the Station has followed the lines indicated in previous reports. A feeding experiment, carrying still further the investigation into the comparative feeding value of corn silage and field beets, which had been the subject of two previous feeding tests, was made in the winter of 1891; its results have been held for publication in connection with a third experiment which is now in progress. The field experiments in the control of insects and fungous diseases of plants, for which a special appropriation was made by the General Assembly, have been carried out as planned, and have yielded results of very great value. These results are given in detail in Bulletin No. 9; they have demonstrated the practicability of very greatly improving the quality of apples and pears by spraying with fungicides, and of reducing the injury from curculio and other insects by adding an insecticide to the fungicide. Were we to stop here the work would be abundantly justified; but there are a few points upon which we believe further investigation is required, and we therefore ask for an appropriation of $500 to be used in continuing these investigations another season. These points will be explained in the report of the Horticulturist, following.

CO-OPERATIVE EXPERIMENTS.

It gives me pleasure again to acknowledge the valuable assistance which farmers and fruit-growers in various parts of the State have rendered to the Station. The necessity for extending certain lines of the Station's investigations far beyond the limits of any single farm or county is selfevident, and the experiments made by intelligent farmers and fruitgrowers, working in co-operation with the Station, have accomplished results which it would have been impossible to attain without their assistance.

But experimentation is expensive work, and it is not just to ask the private farmer to give his time and labor for the benefit of the public, nor is it possible for the Station, with its present resources, to compensate co workers of this sort to the extent which the importance of the work demands.

I believe that the time is at hand for seriously considering the practicability of establishing sub-stations or test farms in various parts of the State, whereon such problems may be studied as are likely to be affected by variations of soil or climate. These sub-stations will not require for their equipment any of the expensive technical apparatus which constitutes a large portion of the outfit of the central Station, nor will it be necessary to man them with persons whose scientific training enables them to command high salaries. Their work should be planned and directed from the central Station, in order that it may be effectively co-ordinated, and in order that the duplication of laboratories and other technical outfit may be avoided; but in those lines of work which are of most immediate benefit to the farmer, provided they are conducted on a soil and under a climate similar to his own-such lines of work as the comparison of varieties of grains, fruits and vegetables and the study of the problem of maintaining the fertility of the soil--such a sub-station may accomplish more for the farmers of a given region than it is possible for any distant Station to do, however thoroughly it may do its work.

The farmers of Wayne county have manifested their faith in possibilities of agricultural experiment in a decisive manner. It is possible for the farmers of other counties to realize a considerable portion of the benefit to be derived from having such a Station in their midst at a comparatively insignificant cost, and I commend the enterprise and example of Wayne county's farmers to the farmers of other sections.

For the purposes of these sub-stations a farm of fifty to one hundred acres would be sufficient, and in many cases it would not be necessary to purchase any land, for in almost every county of the State there are already one or more public farms, a portion of many of which could be utilized for experimentation without any detriment to the public interest. Such a sub-station might be managed by the local agricultural society, or the Board of County Commissioners, acting jointly with the Board of Control of the central Station.

PUBLICATIONS.

The publication of the newspaper bulletins of the Station has been continued throughout the year through the courtesy of the CENTRAL PRESS ASSOCIATION of Columbus, and these bulletins have received a wide circulation by republication in other journals.

The publication of the regular, or monthly bulletin, was practically suspended during the first half of the year, owing to the great amount of other printing required of the State printers during the session of the General Assembly and for some months thereafter. The annual report for 1890 was placed in the printer's hands in January, but was not printed until about the first of August, and bulletins prepared for publication during the winter were laid aside because they could not be issued in season to be of any service to farmers during the current year. It is to be hoped that some way may be devised by which more prompt publication may be secured hereafter.

Including the present number, ten bulletins have been issued during the year. A summary of the contents of these is here given, for the reason, explained in previous reports, that this is the only publication of the Station that is included in the report of the State Board of Agriculture.

BULLETIN No. 1, VOL. IV, JANUARY, 1891, BY J. F. HICKMAN AND C. E. THORNE.

ARTICLE I. Experiments with corn-Continued; including comparison of varieties, distribution of seed, seed from different parts of the ear, deep and shallow cultivation, methods of harvesting, varieties of ensilage corn, and use of fertilizers on corn. Following is a summary of the results attained:

Varieties: (a.) From the large yellow dent class only a few are recommended for Ohio soil, namely: Big Buckeye, Leaming, Leaming Improved, Murdock's Yellow Dent and Woodworth's Yellow Dent. From among these the Leaming or Leaming Improved might be selected as the most prolific.

(b.) Briar Crest Beauty, Chester County Mammoth, Golden Beauty, Golden Dent and Cloud's Early Dent are large and productive varieties, but can not be relied upon to mature on Ohio soils.

(c.) Golden Dent and Golden Beauty are believed to be one and the same variety. The Leaming and Leaming Improved do not show any marked variation in point of productiveness, and it is questionable whether the one has any advantage over the other.

(d.) The Clarage from among the medium dents and the Butcher corn from the mixed dents are both good varieties, and will mature in an ordinary season.

(e.) The Farmers' Favorite is a good yielder, but has failed to mature this season. This we think was entirely due to the short and unfavorable season.

(f.) From the list of white dents should be excluded Blount's White Prolific and Old Cabin Home, on account of their failure to mature. They require a longer season than our latitude affords.

2. Distribution of seed: (a.) The results of previous experiments are confirmed by the work of this year in showing that more and better corn can be raised to the acre where the stalks average twelve inches apart than where they are at less or greater distances.

(b.) The results in general are as good where the corn is planted in hills as when planted in drills, when the average distances of the grains or stalks are the

same.

3. Seed from different parts of the ear. The results of four years' comparative test fail to show any marked superiority in the productiveness of seed taken from the butt, middle or tip of the ear.

4. Deep and shallow cultivation. -The results of two years' experiments are slightly in favor of shallow culture.

5. Methods of harvesting. The exact stage of maturity at which corn is cut may materially affect its final yield per acre.

6. Varieties of ensilage corn. -Red Cob Ensilage, Blount's White Prolific and B. & W. are good varieties for the silo. Early Sanford and sweet fodder corn are not as a rule profitable in this State for silo purposes.

Corn intended for the silo should be planted previous to the middle of May to insure a sufficient degree of maturity.

7. Fertilizers on corn. The results of two years' experiment, conducted on the Station farm and in various sections of the State, indicate that the use of commercial fertilizers on corn, at present prices of grain and fertilizers respectively, is likely to result in loss more often than in profit.

BULLETIN NO. 2, VOL. IV, FEBRUARY, 1891, BY C. M. WEED.

ARTICLE II. Miscellaneous experiments in the control of injurious insects. London purple was found much more liable to injure foliage than Paris green, but this injury was almost entirely prevented by the addition of lime to the spraying liquid. In large plum orchards, spraying with London purple was found a practicable preventive of the curculio. In one experiment, spraying with a lime whitewash protected grapes from the rose bug. Several remedies for the cucumber beetle are given, and experiments are reported showing the effectiveness of tobacco dust as an insecticide.

ARTICLE III. Some common cabbage insects. - An illustrated description, with preventives, of several of the more common cabbage depredators.

ARTICLE IV. Three important clover insects. - An illustrated description of the clover root borer, the clover seed midge and the clover hay-worm.

BULLETIN NO. 3, VOL. IV, AUGUST 1, 1891, BY C. E. THORNE AND J. F. HICKMAN.

ARTICLE V. Commercial and other fertilizers on wheat, with an appendix describing some fertilizing materials and their use. Following is the summary of results of field trials with fertilizers for two years:

In 1890 the various fertilizers used produced, in every case, some increase of crop. When nitrate of soda was used alone its cost was recovered in the increase of crop, counting wheat at $1.00 per bushel, but in no other case, in the Station test, was the cost of any of the fertilizers or combinations of fertilizers recovered, except in that of barnyard manure.

In the test in Columbiana county the increase of crop on plot 2 apparently Justified the use of superphosphate; but this increase was not confirmed by the duplicate plots 5 and 8, hence we are led to doubt whether this increase may not have been due to natural superiority in the soil of this plot. In general the fertilizers added less to the unaided yield of the Columbiana county soil than they did to that of the Station soil, notwithstanding the fact that the unfertilized plots on the Station farm yielded twice as much wheat on an average as did those on the farm in Columbiana county.

In the tests of 1891 at the Station, the fertilizers have in every case, caused a decrease of crop where superphosphate was used. Nitrate of soda, alone or with potash, has produced a slight increase, but in no case has the increase been sufficient to justify the use of the fertilizer, and this applies both to the wheat grown continuously on the same soil and to that grown in rotation.

In the tests of 1891, the wheat grown in rotation, without fertilizers, has yielded as large an average crop as the best obtained from the use of the fertilizers in 1890, although the yield from the unfertilized plots under continuous cropping was practically the same in both seasons.

BULLETIN NO. 4, VOL. IV, AUGUST 25, 1891, BY J. F. HICKMAN.

ARTICLE VI. Experiments in wheat seeding, including treatment of seed for smut.

Quantity of Seed per Acre.

Summary: (1.) This experiment, which has been continued for a series of ten years, furnishes conclusive evidence that higher yields are obtained from seeding at a rate not below five pecks per acre, nor exceeding seven pecks.

(2.) Seeding below four pecks per acre gives a fewer number of bushels of inferior quality.

Seeding above seven pecks per acre gives fewer bushels, but a superior quality of grain.

Methods of Seeding and Winter Protection.

(1.) Broadcast seeding has given as good results this year as drilling, but in a series of years drilling has produced the largest crop.

(2.) Very light mulching has apparently been of some benefit this year. Heav ier mulching has invariably injured the crop.

(3.) Cross drilling has shown no advantage this year.

(4.) No larger crop has been produced this year from mixed seed of two varieties than from pure seed of the same varieties, sown separately.

(5.) The "stinking smut," or "bunt" of wheat may be almost completely eradicated by soaking the seed wheat in solution of copper sulphate, and the same result may be more economically obtained by immersing the seed in water heated to 132° to 135° Fah.

ARTICLE VII. Comparative test of varieties of wheat, sixty-five differently named sorts being grown on plots of one-tenth acre each:

Summary: (1.) The red bearded varieties producing the highest yields for the year were Rudy, Valley, Diehl-Mediterranean and Lehigh in the order named. The white bearded varieties giving the highest yields were Democrat, Golden Prolific and Silver Chaff.

(2.) Of the smooth red wheats Red Fultz, Poole and Witter stand at the top of the list, while the Surprise and Miller's Prolific are among the highest producing white smooth varieties.