Bulletins. In November, 1889, Professor Keffer prepared and the Station published a twenty-eight page bulletin, No. 15, upon the subject of Forestry. This bulletin gives the monthly rate of growth of many kinds of forest trees for May, June, July, August and September, and discusses questions of tree planting and culture on "timber claims." In February, 1890, Messrs. Shepard and Foster published a joint bulletin, No. 16, on the Sugar Beet, giving methods of cultivation and the results of analyses for sugar. The sugar results are better than those reached the previous year. In March Professor Foster published bulletin No. 17 on Small Grain. He discusses methods of cultivation and amount of seed. An account is given of experiments with eleven kinds of winter wheat, sixteen kinds of spring wheat, twenty-two kinds of oats, and twelve kinds of barley. In April Messrs. Orcutt and Adrich, from the department of Entomology, issued bulletin No. 18 on the Cut Worm, giving an account of its appearance and habits in its different stages of growth, and offering suggestions upon methods of preventing its ravages. Financial Statement and Report. June 22, 1889, the Board of Trustees, made the following apportionment of the funds of the Station for the ensuing year, among the several Departments: The unforseen needs and emergencies of the year made it necessary to depart from this preliminary apportionment in several items, as the subjoined list of expenditures will show. All expenditures have been made under orders of the Board of Trustees, and the itemized vouchers were receipted by the payee and audited by the Board before payment was made. These vouchers, properly classified, are on file in the office of the Station. After the business of the year was closed, the Board of Trustees examined and compared these vouchers with the Accountant's books, and found them correct in every particular. The following is the balance sheet for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1890: Per Diem and Expenses of Board of Trustees. Authorized Traveling Expenses. Stationery, Postage, Blank Books and minor Office Supplies. 460 53 210 90 Interest paid on Overdrafts.. 206 50 Fuel for Propagating House, 107 77 Books, Periodicals and Incidentals. 33 00 134 80 20.00 Total.. CERTIFICATE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. .$15,000.00 We, the undersigned Committee of the Board of Trustees, appointed for that purpose, have examined the vouchers covering the expenditures of the Experiment Station for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1890, and have compared them with the books containing the Experiment Station account's and we hereby certify that the books and vouchers agree, and that the expenditures have been made in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Board of Trustees. BROOKINGS, S. D., January 3rd, 1891. A. H. WHEATON, Pres. Committee of Board of Trustees. The subjoined brief Department reports will serve to make more clear the work of the Station during the year. The Bulletins published give detailed statements of the experiments performed and the conclusions reached. Department Reports. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. LUTHER FOSTER, AGRICULTURIST. The work of this Department for the year ending June, 30th, 1890, was principally a continuation of that already in progress and a repetition and extension of experiments in those lines that give definite annual results. In sugar beet culture, folly detailed in bulletin No. 16, the work undertaken was to determine the suitability of the soil and climate of the State for the production of the sugar beet. The yield was not as great either in per cent. of sugar or tons of roots per acre as may reasonably be looked for in more favorable seasons, yet it was sufficiently large to insure it a profitable crop. Small grain, the crop largely grown in the State, was made one of the principal lines of experimentation by this Department of the Station. In variety test, prominence was given to some Russian wheats recommended both for their earliness and their largeness of yield. No variety tested ripened earlier than the Blue Stem and none equaled it in yield. Another feature of this line of work was a comparison of the two principal methods of seeding, namely press drill and broadcast. The following are the deductions made from the results of the experiment: I. With the press drill quick germination is insured by the seed being put at once into moist soil and the covering firmed. With plenty of moisture at planting time broadcast seeding may come equally well. 2. Strong winds lay bare a portion of the seed sown broadcast while it rather deepens the covering of the press drilled. 3. Economy of seed by the drill method through the certainty that all is well covered. 4. Evenness of distribution, germination and ripening are all points in favor of the press drill. Economy so far as cost of implements, labor and horse-power are concerned favors the broadcast method. 6. In per cent. of tillering the broadcast far exceeds the press-drill. Full details and results of the experiments referred to above, may be found in Bulletin No. 17, issued in March, 1890. An important work in variety test of grasses and clovers has been in progress since the organization of the Station. The drought of the past three seasons has made the test severe and those varieties that have lived through may surely be relied on as drought proof. The past two almost snowless winters have been strong tests of ability to withstand the extremes of this climate. Leaving the details of the experiment for the forthcoming Bulletin, the conclusions thus far arrived at may be briefly stated as follows: I. In seeding the best stand came from sowing done early in the spring, not in connection with grain, the grass being allowed to grow the whole season unmowed. 2. Of the plats with grain, that sown with winter rye proved best, the rye being planted in the fall and the grass in the spring. 3. Twenty-eight plats were sown with different varieties of grasses and clovers in the spring of '88. Of these, the following are all that have survived the two seasons with little or no loss by drought or winter killing: Tall Meadow Oat, Wood Fescue, Kentucky Blue Grass, Meadow Fescue, Creeping Bent, Red Top, Sheep's Fescue, Orchard Grass, Rhode Island Bent, Hard Fescue and Timothy. Alfalfa, sown one year earlier, lived through two winters, was mowed three times each season, the first excepted, and was still vigorous when plowed under at the close of the third season. A large per cent. of the following clovers, sown in mixture with several of the above named grasses, have lived through the two winters even under the test of close pasturing the second season : Common Red, Mammoth Red, Alsike, White Dutch and Alfalfa. 4. Native pastures may be stocked with the Fescues, Blue Grass, Red Top, Orchard Grass and Timothy by sowing the mixture, following the stock in the pasture when the ground is wet. The tracks made by the stock and the mud dropped from their feet furnish catches and cover for the seed. Red Top grows in wet places and may be sowed at any time. The corn experiment of '89 was a repetition and expansion of the work of '88 and was made to determine the corn season for this section of the State as well as to test varieties and methods of planting and cultivation. The results may be summed in brief as follows: I. The season is sufficiently long for the complete maturity of nearly all the Flints and most of the small Dents. 2. The season cannot be lengthened by planting before the temperature of the soil and atmosphere are right for growth. 3. Thorough preparation of the soil before planting and early cultivation before and immediately after the corn is up, are the surest and most economic methods of clearing |