Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE KANSAS EXPERIMENT STATION, STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. FOR THE YEAR 1888. TOPEKA, KANSAS: THE GEO. W. CRANE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1889. Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station BOARD OF REGENTS. HON. A. P. FORSYTH, Liberty, President. HON. E. N. SMITH, El Dorado, Vice President. HON. JNO. E. HESSIN, Manhattan, Treasurer. HON. T. P. MOORE, Holton, Loan Commissioner. HON. THOS. HENSHALL, Kansas City, Kas. HON. JOSHUA WHEELER, Nortonville. PRES. GEO. T. FAIRCHILD (ex-officio), Secretary. COUNCIL OF THE STATION. GEO. T. FAIRCHILD, A. M., CHAIRMAN, President of the College. E. M. SHELTON, M. Sc., DIRECTOR, Professor of Agriculture. GEO. H. FAILYER, M. Sc., Professor of Chemistry. E. A. POPENOE, A. M., Professor of Horticulture and Entomology. W. A. KELLERMAN, PH. D., Professor of Botany. R. F. BURLEIGH. D. V. S., Professor of Veterinary Science. ASSISTANTS. H. M. COTTRELL, M. Sc., Agriculture. J. T. WILLARD, M. Sc., Chemistry. CHAS. L. MARLATT, M. Sc., Entomology. WM. SHELTON, Foreman Farm. S. C. MASON, Foreman Gardens. W. T. SWINGLE, Botany. The Station may be addressed at Manhattan, Kansas. Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE , MANHATTAN, KAS., Jan. 31, 1889. } To His Excellency, Governor L. U. HUMPHREY : DEAR SIR — I herewith transmit, as required by Act of Con- gress approved March 7th, 1887, the first annual report of the Experiment Station of the Kansas State Agricultural College, for the year 1888, including the financial statement to June 30, 1888. Respectfully yours, GEO. T. FAIRCHILD , Secretary Board of Regents. Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. L IST OF R EGENTS AND S TATION O FFICERS...................ii L ETTER OF T RANSMITTAL ..........................iii T ABLE OF C ONTENTS............................... iv R EPORT OF THE C OUNCIL..........................1 A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................5 F INANCIAL S TATEMENTS ...............................7 R EPORT OF THE D IRECTOR .........................7 R EPORT OF THE FARM D EPARTMENT......................9 Waste of Manure in Summering Manures in the Yard . 10 Experiments in the Corn Field . .. 14 Experiments with Wheat . 54 Forage Crops . 63 The Milk and Butter Product as Influenced by Feeding . 69 The Pressure of Ensilage on the Walls of the Silo . 95 Relation of Rainfall to the Corn Crop . 99 R EPORT OF C HEMICAL DEPARTMENT ......................... 117 Shrinkage of Hay in the Mow . 117 A Comparison of Varieties of Sorghum . 122 A Test of the Keeping Qualities of Sorghum . 139 An Examination of Individual Stalks of Sorghum with a View to Improving the Plant ..........................141 A Trial of Fertilizers on Sorghum . 147 A New Method of Milk Analysis for the Use of Dairymen . 149 R EPORT OF H ORTICULTURAL D EPARTMENT..............165 Spraying in the Apple Orchard . 165 Observations upon Injurious Insects . 194 Trials of Varieties of Potatoes . 226 Trials of Varieties of Peas . 256 Trials of Varieties of Tomatoes . 271 R EPORT OF B OTANICAL D EPARTMENT......................281 Sorghum Blight . 281 Hackberry Knot. 302 Experiments in Fertilization of Varieties of Corn . 316 Germination of Weed Seeds . 337 The Fungus Parasites of Weeds . 344 Experiments not Completed . 346 I NDEX . 349 Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. TO the Board of Regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College: GENTLEMEN — In presenting for your consideration the first annual report of the Kansas Experiment Station in detail from the several departments, it is proper to recount facts already known to you, but of public interest, concerning the organiza- tion and progress of the work. The Kansas Experiment Station owes its existence to the enactment by Congress of a measure entitled “An Act to es- tablish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the colleges established in the several States under the provisions of an act approved July 2, 1862,” which received the assent of the President March 2, 1887. The conditions of this measure, commonly known as “The Hatch Act,” were promptly accepted by the Legislature, in a resolution dated March 3, 1887, by which the responsibility of carrying out the provisions of the law was vested in the Board of Regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College. On account of the failure of the congressional enactment to make the necessary appropriation, no action was taken by the Board in the matter until after the passage by Congress of a special appropriation bill, approved by the President February 1, 1888, by which the Station received $15,000, to be applied to the liquidation of the expenses of the then current year. On February 8, the Board of Regents organized the Station, in a series of resolutions, in which it is provided among other things — (1) that the general executive management of the Sta- tion shall be under the control of a council consisting of the President of the College and the Professors of Agriculture, Horticulture and Entomology, Chemistry, Botany, and Veteri- Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station 2 THE COUNCIL. nary Science; (2) that the President of the College shall be ex officio chairman of the Council, and the Professor of Agricul- ture ex officio Director and general superintendent in executing the plans of the Council; and (3), after detailing minutely the duties of each officer, it is stated that each member of the Coun- cil shall have full control of work assigned to his department — choosing his own assistants, subject to ratification by the Coun- cil. The Council thus organized met for the first time on Feb- ruary 10th. Subsequently, during the College year, meetings, with very few exceptions, have been held weekly, and during the time of the College vacation at less frequent intervals. At these meetings questions pertaining to the scope, value and practicability of all the proposed experimental undertakings of each department together with the form and character of all publications and all proposed purchases of every nature, have received full discussion and final action. As a result of its deliberations, the Council has adopted a few general rules, keeping quite within the limit of its powers as fixed by the Board, the principal of which are as follows: First, all experi- mental undertakings in any department must first receive the sanction of the Council; and, Second, all wants in any depart- ment not provided for by direct action of the Board may only be supplied by purchases authorized by the Council. Attendance upon the meetings of the Council has been well sustained, and action upon every question has been taken only after full investigation and discussion. So far with us, the method of government by the Council has been eminently suc- cessful. Instead of a half-dozen semi-independent and oft- times rival departments, the Station force has acted through the Council as a unit. Agreeable to section 4 of the congressional act, which pro- vides “that bulletins or reports of progress shall be published at said stations at least once in three months, one copy of which shall he sent to each newspaper in the States or Terri- tories in which they are respectively located, and to such indi- Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station BULLETINS PUBLISHED. 3 viduals actually engaged in farming as may request the same,” editions of five different bulletins have been issued. Bulletin No. 1, issued in April, gives the organization, equipment, and to some extent, aims of the Station. No. 2, also issued in April, details the experiences of fourteen years with cultivated grasses and clovers at the College farm. In June, No. 3, giving the life history of two orchard pests, appeared; and in September, No. 4, giving experiments with varieties and methods of cultivating wheat, was issued. The latest bulletin published, No. 5, is devoted to a comparison of varieties of sorghum and observations on the sorghum blight. The bulle- tins have been issued in uniform editions of 7,000 copies, ex- cept in the case of No. 2, of which 9,000 copies were printed. There has been a steadily increasing popular demand for the Station publications ever since the first bulletin was issued. At the present time our mailing list contains something over 5,000 names. If the present rate at which demands for Station publications are received is continued, it is plain that in the near future the editions of Station publications must be largely increased. The work of printing the bulletins has been done by the Printing Department of the College in a manner creditable to the department and very satisfactory to the Council. The duty of distributing the bulletins and maintaining the ex- tensive correspondence awakened by the increasing interest in the Station shown throughout the State has been borne by the Director in all details, as contemplated by the Board. Full minutes of all meetings of the Council are kept by him in the record book provided for them, and all vouchers have required his approval before entry upon the books of the Secretary of the College. For the work actually done and under way in the departments of the Station, you are referred to the subjoined reports. While these reports bring the work down to the end of 1888, the act- ual life of the Station has been less than eleven months. Dur- ing this time apparatus and supplies of all kinds had to be Historical Document Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station 4 THE COUNCIL. procured, and one department — the Veterinary — created out- right. One building, used for offices and laboratory by the Horticultural Department, has been erected, with extensive propagating pits complete in every respect; and barns and other buildings have been repaired and specially arranged for the new work. The Veterinary Department dates its existence from May 1st., at which time Dr.