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The State pays the actual travelling expenses of the Board of Directors in attending quarterly meetings but gives them no compensation. This is the only regular charge upon the State made by the Station. A quarterly report is made to the Governor of the expenditures at the Station and an an nual report is published and distributed*generally. RESULTS OF WORK OF THE STATION. The Station at Athens was in operation but one year. A good portion of this time was devoted to preliminary prepa ration. Nevertheless, as the results of experiments at Athens, bulletins were published on the following sub jects: ° The Ash Analyses of Native Woods (two papers). The Origin of Soils Geologically Considered. The Imported Cabbage Butterfly. Experiments with Phosphates and Kainit Applied to Cotton. Preservation of the Sweet Potato in Winter (two papers). The Melon-Worm. The Pickle-Worm. The Cabbage Bug. The Cow-Pea as a Fertilizing Crop. Manure for the Cow-Pea. Analyses of Cattle Foods. The present Station was established July 1st, 18S9 A great deal of preliminary and preparatory work was neces sary before any experiments whatever could be undertaken. Since its establishment, however, bulletins have been issued upon the following subjects: The Cotton Caterpillar. The Potato Sphinx., The Twig Girdler. “ Southern Driftand its Agricultural Relations. Analyses of Feeding Stuffs. Meteorological Observations for Five Years. Notes on a Destructive Insect. Irish Potato Culture. Potash and Paying Crops (special). Fertilizer Experiments on Corn. Culture Experiments on Corn. Variety Tests of Corn. Fertilizer Experiments, Culture Experiments and Variety Tests in Cotton, Sweet Potatoes, Field Peas, Garden Vegeta bles, etc. Field Experiments in Forage Plants, with Analyses of the Products. Analyses and Observations on the Culture of Forage Plants. ' ° OBJECTS OF THE 8TATI0N. BUREAU OF INFORMATION. In additi6n to its chief function as an establishment tor investigation, the Station wishes to be also a bureau of in formation for the farmers of the State. It expects in its bulletins, from time to time, to publish results of experi ments and work which have been obtained at other Experi ment Stations and in the laboratories of * scientific workers throughout the world, whenever these results shall be con sidered to be of interest to the people of Georgia. The Sta tion will be glad, moreover, to render every assistance in its power, in any matter connected with agriculture, by infor mation or advice to any farmer of Georgia who may apply to it in person or by letter. Although a creature of the national government and dependent upon its bounty, it is the special servant of the farmers of Georgia, and to serve them acceptably and usefully shall be its constant aim. That the service may be useful, the Board of Directors will endeavor to guarantee by selecting qualified oncers for the work of the Station and holding them strictly to competent and enthusiastic work. That it may be acceptable requires the co-operation of the farmers themselves who are cordially and earnestly urged to feel and manifest a genuine interest in the work of the Station, to suggest to the Director any special lines of investigation in which they may be interested and to apply to the Station at any and all times for such in formation and advice as it may be able to give. To develop this co-operative interest is the object of the present Bulletin. By order of the Board of Directors, R. J. Redding, Director. All communications, requests for Bulletins, etc., should be addressed to Georgia Experiment Station, Experiment P. 0., Spalding Co., Ga. FORAGE PLANTS. / X l with aal • deep. The object of Congress in establishing Agricultural Exper iment Stations was to provide in each State and Territory an organization and an establishment whose duty it should be to investigate in a thoroughly scientific and accurate manner questions and problems connected with agriculture in all of its manifold branches and to distribute free among the people the results of the investigations, together with such other kindred information as might be proper and practica ble. The value and utility of such stations has been indis- j. atably established by experience in foreign countries and in some of the States of the Union. Although the law is si lent on the subject, it was not expected that each station could or would undertake investigations in all the numerous subjects connected with agriculture (the appropriation to each is entirely insufficient for this purpose), but that each would give its chief attention to the matters which were most important in its particular locality, or for which its special qualifications best fitted it. A Central Station and Bureau at the National Capital, Washington, District of Columbia, which is, in a sense, the head of the experiment stations iu the United States, regularly collates the results of work at all the stations and distributes them throughout the country. The experiment stations in the United States are, as yet, in their infancy, and have scarcely had the time or experience necessary to enable them to settle down to the systematic and acceptable work which may be expected of them here after. It is reasonable to anticipate, however, that, in time, by interchange of the wisdom that comes with experience, and by judicious division of labor in investigations, they may be ultimately brought to the high standard which com monly marks American achievements in any undertaking. The Georgia Experiment Station, in common with the others, is at this disadvantage of the general inexperience, but it hopes to be no laggard in its efforts to attain and main tain a respectable place in the community of stations. For the present the Georgia Station has determined to give its chief attention to the following lines of investigation: 1. Culture and fertilizer experiments and variety tests of Cotton. 2. Culture and fertilizer experiments and variety tests of Corn. . . _ 3. Culture and fertilizer experiments upon the Sweet Potato. 4. Methods of preservation of the Sweet Potato. 5. Culture experiments on Grasses and Forage crops. 6. Feeding experiments with stock and cattle. 7. Culture and fertilizer experiments upon the Cow-Pea, especially in relation to its use as a manorial crop. 8. Investigation^ and experiments in Dairying. Minor investigations will also be conducted in other branches of agriculture and in the various branches of horticulture. A portion of the farm has been specially set apart and arranged for the experimental culture of standard and small fruits. Purely scientific researches will also be conducted in thie chemical laboratory, in hybridizing, etc., as time and opportunity permit. Recognizing the great diversity in soil and climate in the State arrangements will be made from time to time to repeat in different part of the State experiments made at the Sta- tion, the results of which would probably be modified by such differences in conditions. Every farmer must appreciate the fact that many difficul ties attend an experiment in agriculture, and that acetate results can be obtained only by carefully conducted and re lated trials. The variations and the uncertainty of seasons Sake it necessary to extend the same toenmente in many mses through a long series of years before reliable results cases in j o ml »_ it. fiio station and those Some of the legumes produce large quantities of forage of a ] character, their dense foliage protecting the soil from baking parching to which it is exposed by the clean culture of our i cottou and corn. If turned under green they furnish the soil ance of plant food drawn from that immense storehouse—the and acquired from that inexhaustible supply—the atmosphere ah But in the system of rotation the legumes are especially valuable, stubble and roots left in the soil after gathering the crops furnish t ant supply of vegetable matter, so important, in our hot climate, to keep moist, loose and friable. The roots and stubble of an acre of average cow-peas contains abc pounds nitrogen; 5.9 pounds phosphoric acid, and 14.5 pounds of potasi will represent about 280 pounds of cottou seed meal; 50 pounds of ad phate,and 115 pounds kainit. The harvested crop of peavines from the same area contains pounds of nitrogen; 20 pounds of phosphoric acid, and 68 pounds of which would represent an application of about 1,200 pounds of cottoa meal, 200 pounds of acid phosphate (at 10 %), and 550 pounds of kainit. | Naturally the yield of the crop and the amount of roots and stubbl; with the condition of the soil. The larger the yield of vines, the lar amount of roots and stubble. The larger the amount of these materia and upon the soil the larger the share of plant food for the benefit of fa crops. To illustrate the beneficent effect of cow-peas turned under for the p? tion of wheat, we copy the results of experiments performed at the No Carolina Experiment Station, by J?rof. J. R. Chamberlain. The peas were so in June, at the rate of 2 bushels per acre, turned under in October, and land sown to wheat November 12, together with the different fertilizers. [GUSTAVE SPETH, Horticulturist.] COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS GREEN MANURING. If we inquire into the causes of the decline of the fertility of our soil, and into the causes of the exhausted condition of some farm land as demonstrated by the great area of abandoned iarms in our Southern as well as in some of the New England States; if we go one step further and analyze the different methods and systems, or we might go still further and say, if we look at tho careless modes of farming, without system or method, we cannot fail to at tribute it greatly to the sinful neglect of the cultivation of forage crops, and consequently to the serious falling off of farm live stock. It is recognized by the whole farming world that live stock and the careful attention to all their wants and sustenance are the most prominent factors.in the economy of successful farming. The experience of the old world has long established the fact that the pros perity of the farmer, that the productiveness of the soil, is in proportion to the amount of live stock maintained and the extent to which the cultivation of nu tritious forage plants is carried. The productiveness of the soil depends upon the amount of plant food it contains and upon the supply of manurial matter to replace the elements assimilated by the growing plants and removed with the crop. This is recog nized as the basis of successful farming. It must therefore be a matter of first consideration to supply the land in the most economical manner with all tho necessary plant food for the most successful production of crops. It is not our object to detail the different ways in which the desired result can be obtained, or to more than briefly attend to the different sources within the reach of every farmer, so far as it is closely connected with the object of this bulletin—the cultivation of forage plants. The sources which we have to consider in this connection are, 1st, com mercial fertilizers; 2d, green manuring; 3d, barnyard manure. The value of commercial fertilizers is too well known to require more than a passing notice; but while we advocate its use only as a supplement and addi tion to our home-made manures, we cannot strongly enougli protest against its injudicious use, carelessly and sometimes purposely neglecting the means o£ developing the manurial resources of the farm. If we consult the statistics in regard to the use of cemmercial fertilizers we find that the Southern States are the largest consumers; we will also find that our Southern States are the largest consumers of forage crops raised outside our States. If we did not daily see train loads of western hay and corn pass before our eyes we were loth to believe it, and this in a country and climate where stock can be pastured the larger part of the year, where green food can be obtained for the same period, and where some of the most nutritious forage plants grow in luxury and perfection. The cause of this abnormal condition therefore cannot be attributed to tho soil or climate. It is to be charged to the present methods of farming, the criminal neglect of fodder and food products, the waste of the manurial re sources of the farm, the injudicious use of commercial fertilizers, and the one crop system—the cultivation of cotton year after year on the same land. o E 6 y A Application of Fertilizer per Acre. Cost .Yield without Peavines. Yield with! Peavines. I 1 None ¥ 20 bush. 50 ill 21 bush. 40 IB 25 bush. 50 1 9 300 lb. Kainit 2 55 3 300 lb. Acid Phosphate (175 lb. Acid Phosphate.. 2 70 4 bush. 10 lb 4 •j 87} lb. Cotton Seed Meal (.371 lb. Kainit 2 94 3 bush. 32} lb 24 bush. 10 » 5 None 1 hush. -10 lb 15 bush. 50 Ibl 6 300 lbs. Cottou Seed Meal ( 350 lb. Acid Phosphate 3 60 5 bush. — lb 12 bush. 42} j] 7 •1.175 lb. Cotton Seed Meal ( 75 lbs. Kaiuit 5 SS 11 bush. 52} lb 25 bush. 25 lb. The following remarks we find important to copy: “The winter of ltb9-90, in this locality, was severe on all winter grain., many instances whole fields, on very good land, were injured. AU of the in this experiment have the same exposure; all are well drained and subj< to the same external conditions. On some of the plots the stand was injured^ on others not< The plots injured were those where no peavines had beexl plowed under. On these plots the plants lacked in development, both on topr and root, probably from want of food ; the strong plants growing where pea- ' vines were plowed under could withstand the bad weather, and ultimately produced good growth and crops.” The above results correspond with those of the writer obtained in former years in the cultivation of cotton and oats and detailed in a report to the R. Co. Agricultural Society. As in the above experiment, the application of mixed minerals (acid phosphate and potash) proved to be the cheapest fertilizer in | the cultivation of those staple crops planted on land on which a crop of cow peas has been turned under or a heavy growth of peavines been removed.. The manurial value of the cow-peas depends upon the large amount of plant food they contain, upon their power of assimilating large amounts of nitrogen from the atmosphere as well as from the soil, their ability, on account of their large root development, to penetrate deep into the subsoil to obtain their nourishment. If the vines, or only the stubble, be tamed under, these, with the roots in the soil, decompose and furnish available plant food for future crops. In the economy of farming the cow-pea is therefore the most important plank as a renovator and improver of our soils, either in reclaiming our worn out lands by a judicious system of green manuring, or in maintaining its fertility by a rational method of rotation. BARNYARD MANURES. cise great patience _ in the problems of agriculture. exer- involved The results obtained from green manuring confirm its importance in eco nomic farm operations. In former years it was thought necessary that laud, after a number of years of cultivation, should rest a season for recuperation. It was consigned to a rest from the plow and to the enjoyment of a growth of weeds (which by dropping their seeds infested the land); the volunteer vegetation was turned under for the benefit of the soil. This method is now almost universally abandoned, and a system of rotation involving the cultivation of such crops aa recuperate the soil, and the planting of special plants to be turned under as a mechanical and chemical factor—the improvement of the soil—has replaced the old system. The great family of leguminous plants offers a huge number of species from which to select for almost any soil and climate for the purpose. While clover enjoys a luxuriant growth in the colder zones, oar Southern States is the home of the cow-pea, the most important plant in the economic system of rotation, while the value of other leguminous plants, such as vetch and lucerne, is already well established. The roots of these plants penetrate deep into the soil, drawing their food sup ply from strata out of reach of most of our cultivated plants. It is claimed that they have the power of assimilating nitrogen, the most costly fertilizing element, from the atmosphere. Four-fifths of the weight of the air is nitrogen. Every Bquare inch of the surface of oar globe is exposed to the influence of nearly twelve pounds of nitrogen, which, if available for the production of our food supply, would prove an exhaostless store of the most costly fertilizing element. This question of the ability of the leguminous plants has attracted the atten tion of scientists. While the researches of Atwater, Hellriegel and others imply that legu minous plants acquire large quantities of nitrogen from the air daring their period of growth, and that the ability to assimilate free nitrogen depends largely on the presence of the so-called root-tubercles, or bulb-like enlarge ments, sometimes called “ warts,” which have their source in the action of certain microbes in the soil, yet many physiologists still adhere to the teach ings of Boussingault, that plants cannot use the free nitrogen of the air, and that they are dependent upon that stored in the soil or supplied in manures. The highly interesting results of Prazmowski’s experiments coincide with those obtained by Atwater and others, so that it cannot be doubted that the bacteria are the only cause of the power of leguminous plants to acquire tht free nitrogen of the air, and as the bacteria have their seat in the root tuber cles, *.in those organs which, by the action of these bacteria, are created by the plant, it is conclusive that the root-tubercles are the organs through which the free atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated. Systematic rotation necessitates the cultivation of forage plants, while -it^j includes the careful feeding and management of farm stock as the first step to wards an intensive system of farming, in opposition to the extensive one so much practiced in the South. A German scientist, who has devoted much of his time to experiments in stock feeding, expresses his conclusions in these words: “The more forage the more manure; the larger the crops the more money in the end.” These words are eminently true. In the economical system of farm manage- ment and feeding of live stock, the developing of the manurial resources of the farm, on which the remunerative production of our crops pivots, depends on the amount of forage produced and consumed on the farm. The manurial value of the animal excretions depends on the composition of the various articles used iu feeding. Most of the elements removed from tha soil in the different forage crops are returned to the soil, to add v with the aid of nature’s silent forces, new plant food for future plants, after having served its purpose as food for our farm stock. The constituents of the different foods in relation to the support of animal life are divided into three groups, nitmgeneoue, non-nitrogeneoue and mineral con stituents. Each has its special office to perform in building up the system and sustaining animal life. The nitrogeneous compounds, or albuminoids, are especially necessary for tha formation of muscle, sinew and milk; the non-nitrogeneous, or carbohydrates, supply fuel to maintain the natural heat and energy of the body, and they ara also stored up in the fatty tissues of its various parts; while the mineral com pounds, although found in every part of the body, are chiefly devoted to tha formation of the bones. These non-nitrogeneous compounds in tho different foods are comp of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon—the elements which the plants assi; J from the soil and atmosphere without affecting the fertility of our land.. The minerals furnish the material from which the bones are largely bu: they form the essential constituents of the blood and various other jui the animal body. 5 The most valuable elements which we remove from the soil iu remo crop are the nitrogenous and mineral compounds. If we compare the different food constituents with their use in the mechanism, we cannot butadmire the wonderful work of nature’s jkboi The non-nitrogeneous compounds, or carbohydrates of the food, have source in the air of the soil and the atmosphere that surrounds us. They therefore without inffuenoe upon the fertility of our soils; they are ait.W Burned in the animal body, or stored as fatty secretions. The mineral and nitrogeneous compounds of some plants (while others assimilate the nitrogen from the air) come from the soil, which is thi made so much the poorer by this loss of plant-food. But as nearly all those elements are again found in the liquid and solid cretions, after having served their purpose in the animal body, and being, turned to the soil, they leave the land—taking into consideration the stu and roots left from the cultivation of forage plants—in as good or better tion than before, notwithstanding at the same time very large quarn forage are removed therefrom. It is claimed by many farmers of some of our forage plants to be very haustive to the soil. This is true where large quantities are removed th< from, but if consumed on the farm, the manure carefully collected and turned to the soil, almost ail that has been removed is returned to the fertility that existed before. i •Analysis taken from Starr’s School Experiment Stat on Report.