ANNUAL REPORT
OF
OF
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama,
FOR
4888
BOARID OF VSITORS.
COMMITTEE OF TRUSTEES ON EXPERIMENT STATION:
HON. J. G. GILCHRIST, .. HON. R. F. LIGON,... HON. J. B. MITCHELL.
BOARD OF DIRECTION.
W . L. B ouN ................................................
President
J. S. NEWMAN.............. ...........
Director and Agriculturist
N. T. LUPTON ............................Vice-Director 
and Chemist
tP. H. MELL ............... 
........ ...................... . Botanist
. ....... ...... ................. Biologist
ASSISTANTS.
ISAAC Ross .. 1st Assistant Agriculturist, charge of Live Stock 
& Dairy
JAS. CLAYTON......................... Second Assistant 
Agriculturist
J. T. ANDERSON, PH. D ................... First Assistant 
Chemist
L. W. WILKINSON, M. Sc............. ... Second 
Assistant Chemist
P. L. HUTCHISON............................Third Assistant 
Chemist
T. D. SAMFORD, B. Sc........... ...........
Assistant Botanist
tProf. Mell has also charge of Mete .,rological Observations.
-Dr. A. E. Thayer will take charge of this department next July.

IQV
if2S CON NU!,
ANNUAL REPORT.
This report contains a summary of the work done in the
year 1868, as set forth in detail in the quarterly bulletins
including a report of the equipment supplied-of the field
experiments made in agriculture and horticulture-of the
analyses of soils, fertilizers, &c., and of the work done in the
department of botany and meteorology.
TREASURER'S REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING JULY 1ST, 1888.
THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama,
In Account with UNITED STATES TtEASURY.
RECEIPTS.
To amount of appropriation ...................... $15,000 00
DISBURSEMENTS.
By cash paid salaries .............................. $ 612 50
cash paid buildings.. .... ... 3,000 00
cash paid Equipment Farm Department ....... 2,582 20
cash paid Equipment Chemical Department 4,400 00
cash paid Equipment Botanical Department 500 08
cash paid Library .......................... 1,499 02
cash paid Printing ........... ................. 105 61
cash paid Trustees. . . .................. 200 09
cash paid Stationery ......... 31 00
cash paid Expenses officers (traveling) ...... 15 65
cash paid Advertising................... ....... 4 15
cash paid Furniture...... ............. 49 701
cash paid Uniontown Station.................. 2,000 00 15,000 00
E. T. GLENN,
Treasurer A. & M. College, Alabama.
REPORT OF J. S. NEWMAN, DIRECTOR.
The Agricultural Department of the Experiment Station
was organized under State law in July, 1883, and hence there
was much work already in progress when it was merged into
the Station organized under the Congressional act known as
the " Hatch Bill," April 1st, 1888. Its equipment has been
very much improved through the Congressional appropriation
and its sphere of operation somewhat extended. The farm of
226 acres, occupied by the Station under State law, and owned
by the State is used by the Station under the present organiza-
tion. When purchased in 1883 it was in a very dilapidated
condition; much of the land having been turned out in the
commons, and a large portion corrugated with gullies.
With so unpromising a foundation upon which to build,
much time, money and labor have been required, and much
energy has been expended in bringing the property into a con-
dition reasonably suited for the purpose to which it is devoted.
Commencing with a "worn out" plantation, one of the most
important lessons sought to be taught has been how to improve
and utilize such property without forgetting, while doing so,
the true mission of Experiment Station work.
THE PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS
are a dwelling of seven rooms, occupied by the Director; a
four room cottage, occupied by the Foreman; a neat, new cot-
tage containing offices for the Director and his assistants, and
a museum ; a substantial two story barn; a two story gin
house, with sides and top covered with corrugated iron; a silo,
dairy and ice house; large cow stable; engine and boiler
house; corn crib, tool rooms, &c.
The water supply for the green-house and horticultural
grounds is furnished by two hydraulic rams which utilize the
waste from two fish ponds.
THE EQUIPMENT
Consists of a twenty-horse power boiler and fifteen-horse
power engine, the latter placed between the barn and gin-house
so as to drive with equal facility a line of shafting upon each
building.
A forty-saw Pratt gin, with feeder and condenser attached,
and a power press, are in position in the gin-house, and afford
the means of accurate experimentation with cotton.
A feed mill and cotton-seed crusher has been provided for
grinding food for stock, and crushing the green cotton seed for
the purpose of more satisfactorily 
experimenting w'th them,
both as stock food and as a fertilizer.
A Ross ensilage cutter serves the purpose of cutting ensilage
for filling the silo during the summer, and dried hay in winter.
A complete grain separator is stationed by the gin-house
and is operated by the same shafting that runs the gin and
cotton press. A mower, horse-rake and cutaway harrow have
been added to the outfit for field work.
Miss Clementine Snow of Oxford, Alabama, has presented
the Station with a sulky plow and cultivator, a rotary-tooth
harrow, feed-cutter, &c., thus supplementing with most useful
implements the purchased outfit.
A complete dairy equipment has been purchased, including
the Cooly creamery and the De Lavel separator, and the cow
stable is filled with thoroughbred Jerseys ready to contribute
to the demands of scientific investigation of the merits of our
peculiarly Southern products as butter producers.
The pig sties are supplied with thoroughbred Essex and
cross-bred Burkshire pigs, undergoing feeding experiments to
test the comparative value and economy of different Southern
field products as pork-producers.
The horticultural department has been rapidly developed.
A large number of varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums,
figs, grapes, strawberries and raspberries are undergoing ex-
perimental test as to their comparative productiveness and
adaptation to this soil and climate. These undergo the most
critical observationp as to habits of growth, healthfulness, pro-
ductiveness, character and quality of fruit and liability of
plants and fruit to attack of insects or disease.
IN THE FIELD.
A variety of inquiries have been made as to the fertilizers
6
best suited to supply the needs of the soil for the most profit-
able growth of our field crops, the choice of plants as to the
sources of snpply of nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid,
and especially as to the forms in which the latter is presented.
Especial attention has been given to the unde'rground growth
of our cultivated plants and the effects of different methods of
cultivation upon this development and consequent productive-
ness of the plant. By means of water under-pressure the soil
has been removed from the roots of corn and cotton plants at
different stages of growth and under different systems of cul
tivation, resulting in revelations which astonish the average
farmer-the feeding roots showing more feet in length than
they were supposed to have inches.
Experiments have been conducted with cotton, corn, forage
plants, small grain, ground-peas, sweet and Irish potatoes.
The results of all experiments are published in bulletins
from time to tine, and these distributed for the benefit of
farmers.
The interests of the amateur and the commercial gardener
have not been overlooked, but a great variety of experiments
has been mnade with melons and vegetables, involving the ex-
penditure of much time in making the daily observations ne-
cessary to collect the facts of most interest to' the grower of
these perishable products. Especial attention has been given
to inquiries as to earliness and productiveness of different va-
rieties.
REPORT OF N. T. LUPTON, CHEMIST.
The Chemical Department of the Agricultural Experiment
Station, in connection with the Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Alabama, includes in its present organization, the
Chemist and three assistants.
In addition to the work directly connected with the Station,
the Chemist is Professor of General and Agricultural Chem-
istry in the Agricultural and Mechanical College and Official
Chemist of the State Department of Agri.ulture. On the
application of the Commissioner of Agriculture he is required
by law to "analyze and certify 
the analysis of all fertilizers,
samples of which are furnished him, and at the request of the
Commissioner, if he can without conflict with his duties as Pro-
fessor, must attend conventions of agricultural chemists, make
reports of such matters as he may deem of interest to the De-
partment, and render such other services in the line of his pro-
fession as the Commissioner may require."
The variety and extent of this work can be seen from the
following tabular statement of the number and character of
the quantitative analyses made during the year 1888. It is
scarcely necessary to state that in the analyses of fertilizers
only those constituent,3 have been determined which are re-
quired under the State law, viz.: water soluble, citrate soluble,
and acid soluble phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash.
Number and character of quantitative analyses made in the
State Chemical Laboratory during the year 1888, as required
by the Commissioner of Agriculture and the director of the
Experiment Station:
8
ANALYSES.
SUBSTANCES ANALYZED. NUMBER.
Acid phosphates with Nitrogen and Potash..................... 84
Acid Phosphates with Potash .................... 8
Acid Phosphates............................ ....... ....... .57
Raw bone meal.................... ....................... 2
Natural Guanos ......................... ................... 18
Phosphatic rocks and deposits.... ... ......... ....... ..... I
Marls and Calcareous rocks.. ..................... 5
Tankage ........... o........ ................................ 1
Cotton seed meal....................................... 3
Cotton seed hull ash ................ ........................ 1
Cave earths............. .. ................ .......... ...... 3
Kainite and potash salts ..................................... .8
Feed stuffs...... ... _...o....................3
Nitrogenous materials.......... .................. 5
Carbonaceous matter, or muck ........................ ........ 1
Potatoes.......................'''*''' ** - . -.. .... .9
Soils and sub Soils.. ... .......... ................ ....... 20
Coal ....................... 6........ ....................... 5
Iron ores.......... ...................... 2
Clays...,..,......... .............................. 4
Waters . ................ .. ... ..... ......................... 1
Gold ores .............. ...... .I . ............... . 2
Total...... ....................................... 243
In addition to the above, a considerable number of miner-
alogical specimens, the character of which could be ascertained
by simple qualitative tests, were examined and their value de-
termnined.
The details of the quantitative work done, are to be found
in the quarterly bulletins issued during the year.
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY AND METEROLOGY.
P. H. MELL.
This department was not organized until the year was about
half gone and little could be done towards collecting plants for
study before the early frosts. The -assistant, however, was
placed in the field as soon as possible and many of the wild
plants of the county, where the college is located, were col-
lected and pressed for future examination. These plants rep-
resent species of grasses, weeds and woods.
In the last two quarterly bulletins partial lists of the woods
of Alabama were published, with descriptions of some of the
most valuable specimens. This work on the woods will be
continued from time to time until the entire State is covered,
The large number of specimens of grasses and weeds collected
since the burning of the college museum have been assorted
and manuscripts have been prepared for publication in future
bulletins. Much work has been done towards classifying the
noxious weeds of. Eastern Alabama, and results of experiments
are being collated to show the farmers how to eradicate them
from the cultivated fields.
Many experiments under the microscope have been made on
twelve varieties of the cotton plant to show the effect produced
on the fibre by different methods of cultivation. A number
of sections have been made of the plant during its different
stages of growth and carefully photographed. Measurements
have been nade of the fibre and its strength determined. These
experiments are almost completed and the results will be pub-
lished in early bulletins
The work iin meterology has been in successful operation in
the State since 1884, but since the organization of the Experi-
ment Station, under the Hatch Act the facilities for observa-
tions at the Auburn station have been considerably enlarged.
The following instruments comprise the outfit at the station :
10
A mercurial barometer by Green, carefully corrected and
compared with the standard at Washington.
Maximum and minimum thermometers by Green.
Hygrometer.
Solar radiator.
Terrestrial radiator.
Rain gauge-standard make.
Anemometer with electrical recorder by Gibbon.
Wind vane--signal service pattern.
Three sets of soil thermometers ranging in depth from one
inch to ninety-six inches.
The barometer, maximum and minimum thermometers, by-
grometer, rain gauge, and wind vane, belong to the United
States signal service.
Besides the station at Auburn, reports are received from
twenty-six observers in different sections of the State, who are
supplied, through the liberality of the Chief Signal Officer,
with maximum and minimum thermometers and rain gauges.
From the data obtained from these observers regular monthly
bulletins have been issued since 1884, and distributed among
thefarmers of the State.