of the machine in a 10 per cent solution of common salt between milkings was more efficacious than steaming. The germ content of the milk was found to be determined largely by the efficiency of the air filters of the machine.

The principles underlying the making of ice cream and the factors which influence the process and the product were studied extensively at the Vermont Station, and an epoch-making bulletin was issued on the subject. The Iowa Station published a bulletin on a new and healthful frozen dairy product worked out by the dairy department of the station, and named lacto.

In the Eastern States the work of the stations continues to indicate the advisability and practicability of growing alfalfa in many sections. Last year the New Jersey Station's alfalfa field of 10 acres, seeded the year before, produced a total of 60 tons of hay. The New York Cornell Station in studying the relation of lime to the growth of this crop found that the protein content of alfalfa grown on lime soil is markedly greater than that of plants grown on soil in need of lime. In the particular experiments the difference amounted to 88 pounds of protein per ton of alfalfa hay. It was also observed that the growth of alfalfa increased the nitrifying power of the soil for at least certain periods in the growth of the crop. The Nebraska Station, in studies of the water requirements of plants by a new method perfected by the station, has found in two dry years that there was a distinct economy of water with narrowleaved corn as compared with broad-leaved. The strains with a high leaf area yielded 43.6 bushels per acre, while those with a low leaf area produced 52.1 bushels. The Delaware Station states that a fall growth of crimson clover may furnish 50 to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre and be profitable even though the crop is winterkilled, and that the first month's growth in the spring usually produced about one-third of the total yield of nitrogen. It was determined that when the crop was removed 35 to 40 per cent of the nitrogen was left in stubble and roots.

The New Jersey Station has worked out a bacteriological method of determining the availability of nitrogenous fertilizers which promises to be of great practical value. It is based upon the rapidity with which the nitrogen of such fertilizers is converted into ammonia. by bacteria.

THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS.

The promotion of agricultural education has become a world-wide movement. There is now scarcely a civilized country in which no provision is made for specific practical instruction in agriculture, and wherever governments are establishing universities they are pro

viding as liberally for colleges of agriculture as for those of the liberal arts and the professions. In this country many of the State universities are indebted largely to their colleges of agriculture for their present liberal support and large attendance of students, and some of them have actually grown within a few years from small land-grant colleges to large State universities.

The past year has been one of the best in the history of the American agricultural colleges. They have had more liberal appropriations from their respective legislatures and a larger attendance of students than ever before, and more of them have made provision for reaching the farmer and his wife and children upon the farm through the establishment of extension departments and the maintenance of training courses in agriculture for public-school teachers. Such courses were maintained in at least 46 of the agricultural colleges, and in 22 of them regular four-year courses for teachers were offered.

The success of the agricultural colleges and their efforts for the development of other educational agencies for the farmer have resulted in the very rapid growth recently of secondary schools of agriculture and of departments of agricultural instruction in public high schools. Several of the States have established complete systems of agricultural high schools, while others have adopted the policy of giving bonuses to existing high schools to encourage the establishment and proper support of agricultural instruction. During the year the legislatures in Maryland, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin passed laws providing for State aid for such high-school departments, and Minnesota and Virginia increased the amount of money available for such purposes. Minnesota now provides $2,500 for each of 30 high-school departments of agriculture, home economics, and manual training, and $1,000 for each of 50 other such departments. There are 10 States that give aid for high-school departments of agriculture.

In an advisory capacity this department is aiding the State authorities in the promotion of agricultural education by maintaining in the Office of Experiment Stations a small agricultural education service, which studies the various systems of agricultural education, investigates methods of teaching agriculture, prepares publications for teachers and others interested in promoting the educational efficiency of the people living in the country, brings the large amounts of new information on agricultural subjects published by the department and the experiment stations to the attention of teachers and students, and in general acts as a clearing house for agricultural education in this country. In this way 22 different States were given special assistance during the year.

FARMERS' INSTITUTES.

The work of the department in aid of farmers' institutes has continued under the direction of the Office of Experiment Stations. The reports of the several States show that during the year 5,712 regular institutes were held, consisting of 16,578 half-day and evening sessions, with an attendance of 2,094,155. Special institutes, movable schools, railroad specials, and other forms of agricultural extension had an attendance of 1,323,793, making the total attendance upon all forms of institute activity 3,417,948, an increase of 484,704 over that of the previous year.

THE DEPARTMENT'S INSULAR AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

An eminently successful year has been reported by the stations maintained by the department in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Guam. The energies of these stations continue to be directed toward the diversification and improvement of the agriculture of their respective regions. These represent the widest extremes of agricultural conditions, from the arctic agriculture of Alaska to the tropical conditions of Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Guam, and present agricultural possibilities of the greatest diversity. That these stations are growing in the esteem and confidence of the people for whom they are maintained is shown by the rapid growth in correspondence, in the demand for publications, and in individual requests for advice as well as in the readiness to engage in cooperative work of all sorts and the increasingly generous private and community contributions of funds. The scientific work of these stations is attracting wide attention; their publications are noted in the principal scientific review journals of the world, and in not a few instances have been republished in foreign countries.

Through local contributions several additions have been made to the cooperative demonstration farms maintained by some of the stations. These farms will furnish the means of demonstrating the more practical results of the stations' work, while the more technical experiments are carried out at the station proper.

THE ALASKA STATIONS.

The work at the agricultural experiment stations in Alaska has been carried out during the year in accordance with the plans outlined in former reports. At Sitka horticultural and plant-breeding work is given prominence. At Rampart the principal work is in testing and breeding varieties of grain and in experiments with potatoes and hardy leguminous plants. Farming on a commercial scale as it must be practiced by settlers is carried on at Fairbanks, and at Kodiak breeding and care of live stock are the principal in

vestigations. For the present this work is confined to cattle and sheep. The work with hybrid strawberries at Sitka has been continued with marked success and this station continues to propagate and distribute for trial a large number of fruit trees and bushes, and some ornamental plants. Comparative tests of about 60 varieties of potatoes, and of many varieties of cabbage, cauliflower, and other vegetables are being continued at the Sitka station to determine which varieties are best adapted to the climatic conditions of the coast region.

At the Rampart Station efforts to grow barley and oats have been uniformly successful and a number of crosses of varieties of barley have been made, some of which appear to have desirable qualities. Most of the spring-sown grains matured their crops this year. Some of the winter grains were partially destroyed by hard freezing before the ground was covered with snow. Potatoes have also been grown with success at this station. At the Fairbanks Station an attempt. is being made to grow grain, hay, and potatoes on a commercial scale, but up to the present the principal energies have been expended in extending the area of cultivable land, about 70 acres being now under the plow. In 1910, in spite of injury to the plants by frost, several hundred bushels of potatoes were produced, of which $1,500 worth was sold. At the Kodiak Station, which is devoted mainly to animal production, 82 head of purebred Galloway cattle of all ages, 10 grade cattle, and 89 sheep and lambs were successfully wintered on native forage supplemented by a small amount of purchased grain feed, and there does not appear to be any reason why stock raising should not be made a success in the coast region of Alaska, if care is exercised in selecting the stock and keeping it well housed and fed during the winter.

THE HAWAII STATION.

At the Hawaii Station the investigations outlined in previous reports have been continued and a number of new lines of work have been begun. The work with cotton continues to attract favorable attention, and it would seem that the profitableness of this new agricultural industry has been demonstrated. The Japanese rices imported by the station have been successfully grown, and samples submitted to rice consumers have been pronounced equal in quality to the imported Japanese rice. The importance of this fact is apparent when it is known that one-half to 1 cent per pound more is paid for Japanese than for other rice. Fertilizer experiments with rice and taro have given results which show how important improvements may be made in the methods of fertilizing these crops. In continuation of the work with pineapples, it has been shown that the chief difficulties with this crop are due to a lack of drainage and in

certain restricted localities to too much manganese in the soils. It has also been found that pineapples can be profitably grown in Hawaii with less rainfall than has hitherto been thought necessary. Experiments with broom corn at the station were so successful that this crop is being planted to some extent and a broom factory has been established in Honolulu. The station has carried on a number of experiments with various tropical fruits, and among other things has worked out a very successful budding method for avocados, has demonstrated the possibility of the orchard production of the papaya, and has aroused interest in improved methods of banana culture. In view of the shortage of forage in the islands the station is encouraging the culture of forage plants, especially with reference to ranch conditions. During the year the station established with Territorial funds 3 demonstration farms, 1 on Kauai and 2 on Hawaii. Similar farms are to be established elsewhere.

THE PORTO RICO STATION.

The Porto Rico Station has made substantial progress during the year both in equipment and in lines of work, and there is evidence that the relations of the station with the people of Porto Rico are most satisfactory. In accordance with the terms of the last appropriation act, coffee investigations were made a more extensive part of the station work during the year. The introduction of the higherpriced coffees into Porto Rican culture has been continued and some of the Java varieties are coming into bearing. Some 3-year-old trees have borne at the rate of 800 pounds merchantable coffee per acre, while the average of the island is only about 200 pounds per acre. Considerable attention has also been given to the study of the means of control of various insects and diseases to which the coffee plant is subject. The horticultural work of the station was considerably extended and included investigations on grafting stocks, fertilizers, and cover crops for citrus fruits. Especial attention was given to the introduction and propagation of the better varieties of mangoes, more than 40 varieties having been introduced from various tropical countries. The work in animal husbandry was also broadened and now includes horse breeding to improve the size and conformation of the horse, breeding for work oxen and dairy cattle, as well as the introduction and breeding of hogs, sheep, and poultry. Preliminary investigations on the production of forage have been begun, and a variety of sorghum introduced from Barbados has given heavy yields on dry, hilly lands. The work in making and feeding silage was continued, and it appears that good silage can be made with less difficulty in Porto Rico than in a temperate climate. An investigation showing that chlorosis in pineapples, which prevails in the