STRAW.

No effort was made to determine the food-value of the straw at the different periods of cutting. The grain so far outranks the straw in money value that the farmer is willing to sacrifice the straw, if thereby he may secure a corresponding increase of value in his grain; but the farmer is well aware of the rapid deterioration of the straw by allowing it to stand till the grain is dead-ripe, and if the dead-ripening is attended by no real increase of value in the grain, but an actual loss in the amount of grain, and the straw deteriorates greatly in the meanwhile, he may conclude that it is best to cut his grain as soon as ripe and thus save himself from needless loss.

In the hope of doing something toward placing agriculture upon a scientific basis, I offer this contribution to the chemistry of the ripening of wheat. In making this investigation I have enjoyed the hearty and efficient coöperation of R. F. Kedzie, then my assistant in chemistry, and now Professor of Chemistry in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississippi, who made all the analyses and otherwise assisted me in a most satisfactory manner.

TEMPERATURE OF SOIL AS
SOIL AS MODIFIED BY

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.

ABSTRACT OF AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR 1868.

BY R. C. KEDZIE.

These experimental investigations consisted of a series of observations, by means of thermometers placed in the soils, and the observations taken thrice daily, from the first of May to the 30th of September. The soils used were tile clay taken from the subsoil; sand, such as is used for making mortar, and freed from all foreign matter, by washing; tile clay and 12 per cent. humus; sand and 12 per cent. humus; and humus. Each kind of soil was placed in a separate box; the several boxes being separated by hollow walls to prevent the lateral communication of heat. The thermometer bulbs were buried two inches deep in each soil, and the stems projected horizontally from the side of the box, so that the temperature could readily be read from the thermometer scale. The observations were taken at 7 A. M., 2 P. M., and 9 P. M. These observations and the results are contained

in the following table:

SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS ON SOIL TEMPERATURE FROM MAY TO OCTOBER, 1868.

The temperature at 2 P. M. is often excessive, and those combinations of soil would seem to be best adapted to vegetable growth which maintain an elevated temperature at other portions of the day, e. g., at 7 A. M., and 9 P.

M.

Tried by this standard, we find that clay, mixed with 12 per cent. humus, has a temperature higher by 2°.08 than tile clay; and sand, with 12 per cent. humus, has a temperature higher by 2°.68 than pure sand, and this relative excess of temperature is maintained through the whole season of active vegetable growth, viz., from 1st of May till 1st of October.

It will appear from this, that the farmer has an indirect control over the climate of his fields, through this relation of humus to temperature of soils, when mixed with them. The popular opinion in regard to muck is expressed in the epithet "frosty," so generally applied to it. One reason for regarding a mucky soil as predisposed to frost, probably arises from the position it usually occupies, viz., at the bottom of valleys, and other low positions. Into these valleys the air, rendered denser from a loss of temperature, will pour from all the surrounding high lands, and hence a lake of cold air will fill each valley, and a slight reduction of temperature by radiation will result in frost, and this frost is the result of position, and does not necessarily arise from the nature of the soil in such valley. Persons who travel in an open carriage at night in summer, and when the air is still, are aware how abrupt is the passage from comparatively warm air on the highlands to the cold air filling a valley, and the equally abrupt change as they rise out of the valley into the warm air covering the opposite bank. All of which is respectfully submitted.

LANSING, December, 1868.

17

R. C. KEDZIE.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE BULLETINS.

[The law providing for the publication of these bulletins (Act No. 81, 1885), is printed on page 47 of this Report. Bulletins Nos. 1 to 6 were printed in the Report of 1884. Any one wishing to have these bulletins regularly mailed to them as issued will please send their name and address to the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, Agricultural College, Mich.]

NO. 7.-DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND LANDSCAPE

GARDENING.

I. NOTES ON FRUITS.

II. NOTES ON VEGETABLES.

III. NOTES ON SOME HARDY AND DESIRABLE ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS.

As my connection with the college dates from last January only, it will be impossible for me to prepare a bulletin which shall be the result of especial investigation or experiment. Aside from the notes upon hardy ornamental trees and shrubs, therefore, I shall attempt little more than an enumeration of the experiments which we have inaugurated for the testing of new varieties of fruits and vegetables, with catalogues of the varieties we are growing at present. It will be to the interest of many to know what fruits are growing upon the college premises. It is intended to test all promising new varieties as fast as they appear. We solicit new varieties from parties who originate them, desiring, especially, to secure them before they are put upon the market. A fruit garden of four acres is being fitted for the growth of small fruits. Unfortunately, our climate is a rigorous one, and none of the tenderer fruits can be grown.

It is hoped to soon inaugurate other experiments of more general value, of wider application than the mere testing of varieties, but not to such an extent as to interfere with those in hand. In order to make an exact record of the whole visible biography of all our cultivated plants from sowing to maturity, arrangements have been made for competent observers-one for the fruit garden and orchards, one for the vineyards, and one for the vegetable garden-to make daily notes throughout the season upon conditions of plants and important phenomena of growth and structure. This arrangement will enable us to present in systematic tabulated form the seasons of germination and maturity, the period of the plant's greatest and least vigor, the exact external influences of culture and weather, the detailed charac

teristics of leaves, flowers, and fruits, and many other highly important features of experiment.

I. NOTES ON FRUITS.

As our gardens must always be maintained largely for purposes of illustration, it is necessary to retain certain instructive, interesting, or historical varieties which are no longer of use to the farmer or gardener.

STRAWBERRIES.

All the strawberries enumerated in the following list were set during last August and early September. Other varieties will be set next spring. In order to test the effects of soils upon the character of varieties, plants of many sorts and from the same sources have been set upon widely different soils, upon those ranging in character from light sand to heavy clay loam. Upon these dissimilar soils the plants will be given the same culture.

Also Benjamin Hathaway's No. 5, and a seedling from Ohio, said to have been reared from seeds of Big Bob, sent under the name of "Big Bob's Baby.'

The following brief notes, which I made this year upon strawberries grown here and in this vicinity, mostly upon light soils, and with indifferent culture in matted rows, are selected from a recent correspondence to the Country Gentleman:

Atlantic-Very late and enormous in size; flavor rich and musky; color extra good, very dark. It promises well.