SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
Agricultural Experiment Station
OF THE
A. & M. COLLEGE,
AUBURN, 
ALABAMA,
JANUARY 25TH, 1895.
MONTGOMERY, ALA.:
THE BROWN PRINTING CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS
1895.

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.
COMMITTEE OF TRUSTEES ON EXPERIMENT STATION.
L. F. CULVER ..................................... Union Springs.
J. G. GILCHRIST ................................. Hopp, Hull.
H. CLAY ARMSTRONG ................. ............ Auburn.
STATION COUNCIL.
Wm. LEROY BROUN ............................................. President.
A. J. BONDURANT........................................ Agriculturist.
B. B. Ross ............................................. Chemist.
P. H. MELL .................................................. Botanist.
J. M-. STEDMAN............................................... Biologist.
C. A. CARY........................................ Veterinarian.
ASSISTANTS.
J. T. ANDERSON, PH. D................... First Assistant Chemist.
R. E. NOBLE, M. Soc.................. Second Assistant Chemist.
C. L. HARE, M. Soc....................... Third Assistant Chemist.
T. U. CULVER........................... Superintendent of Farm.
W. B. FRAZER ....................................... Farm Clerk.
TRUSTIEES.
His Excellency, WM. C. OATES, President ................. Ex-Officio.
J. 0. TURNER, Superintendent of Education............Ex-Officio.
I. F. CULVER.......................................... Union Springs.
J. C. RICH. ....................................... Mobile.
H. CLAY ARMSTRONG. ....................................... Auburn.
R. H. DUGGAR..................................................Gallion.
J. G. GILCHRIST............................................ Hope Hull.
W M . SMAW ....................... ........... .............. B oligee.
C. C. HARRIS.. ..............................................
Decatur.
JONA&THAN HARALSON.......................................... 
Selma.
J. R . DOWDELL.......................................... La Fayette.
J. A. BILBRO.................................................. Gadsden.
E. T. GLENN, Treasurer.
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE,
AUBURN, ALA., January 25, 1895.
To Governor Wm. C. OATES,
Executive Department,
Montgomery, Ala.
SIR :-I have the honor herewith to transmit 
to you the
Seventh Annual Report of the Agricultural Experiment
Station of the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
of Ala-
bama, for the year ending July 1st, 1894.
This report is made in accordance with the provisions 
of
an act of Congress establishing Agricultural 
Experiment
Stations in the several States, and contains 
the report of
the Treasurer, the Botanist, the Chemist, the Agriculturist,
the Biolgist, and the Veterinarian.
Very respectfully,
WM. LERoY BROuN,
President.

TREASURER'S REPORT,
For the fiscal year ending July 1st, 1894.
THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION OF THE
A. & M. COLLEGE OF ALABAMA,
In account with U. S. Treasurer.
Receipts and Disbursements of Hatch Fund to July 1, 1894.
RECEIPTS.
To cash from U. S. Treasury.................
DISBURSEMENTS.
To amount paid Salaries...... ..... ........... $
.. .. .. 
Library..................
ti .. " 
Printing ......................
i" " " 
Stationery....................
it .. " 
Experiment 
Station labor ......
i" " 
Soil Test.....................
.. .. .. 
Chem ical.....................
" " " 
Trustees......................
it i.. 
. B uilding .............. 
........
it 4.. t 
Incidental....................
i" " " 
NM useum ......................
it .. t 
Experiment Station-Current
E xpenses..................
........ $ 15,000 00
9,404 11
499 73
564 85
14 47
1,427 12
228 49
432 65
96 33
750 00
87 25
500 00
1.000 00$ 15,000 00
E. T. GLENN, Treasurer,
A. & M. College.
THE STATE OF ALABAMA,
Lee County. Personally appeared before me, W. S. J.
Lampkin, a Notary Public in and for said county and State, E. T.
Glenn, known to me as Treasurer of the Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Alabama, who, being duly sworn, deposes and saith that
the above and foregoing account is true and correct.
Witness my hand, this 30th day of January, 1895.
W. S. J. LAMPKIN, Notary Public.
This is to certify that I have compared the above account with the
Ledger account of the Treasurer, and this is a correct transcript of
same.
WM. LEROY BROUN, President,
A. & M. College.
This report is not made in accordance with recent directions from
the Secretary of Agriculture, for the reason that the expenditures
were made and entered prior to the reception of the order. They are
now being kept as required, and will hereafter be so reported.
E. T. GLENN, Treasurer,

REPORT OF THE BOTANIST.
Du. WM. LEROY BROUN,
President Alabama Experiment Station:
SIR:-I have the honor to submit herewith my report
of work performed in the department of Botany during 
the
past year:
EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED.
The botanical garden was laid out and the following 
seeds
and plants were carefully tested:
75 varieties and species of grasses.
10 kinds of clovers.
28 improved varieties of cottons. (See page 21 of bulle-
tin number 56.)
6 varieties of India rice. (Killed by late frost.)
3 kinds of sugar beets. (See Bulletin number 60.)
"Ragi" millet (Eleusine coracana); "Kodo" millet (Paspa-
lumr scrobiculatum), both from Japan. (See bulletin num-
ber 60.)
"Cajan-pea" (Cajanus indicus).
"Horse gram" (Dolichos biflorus). India pea.
"Green gram" (Phaseolus mungo). 
India pea.
20 varieties of foreign cottons from India and Egypt.
"Catraing bean," from India.
Soja bean.
New Japanese buckwheat.
New Danish oats.
2 kinds of haricot beans.
2 kinds of sesame from India.
Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa). Sand or winter vetch.
The grass experiments were of special interest in deter-
mining what species are adapted to poor lands in hot sum-
mers and cold winters. A supply of seeds of the wild
10
species were gathered during the year to sow next season;
and the effort will be made to extend this feature of the bot-
tanical garden until the whole range of the wild grasses of
Alabama are tested.
The experiments on the improvement of the cotton were
continued during the past season-making the fourth year
in this line of work on the cotton-and the results were
most gratifying. The twenty-eight varieties mentioied on
page 21 of bulletin 56 were 
selected for the tests in 1894,
and a bulletin is nearly ready for the printer on the re-
sults secured.
The twenty foreign cottons under examination were care-
fully cultivated in order to accomplish two things: 1st, to
acclimate the seeds if possible ; 2nd, to secure strong hybrids
by blending them with the best plants among the twenty-
eight varieties noted on page 21 of bulletin 56. The results
to be obtained in another year are looked forward to with
much interest. Several hundred experiments were made
in the attempt to hybridize and a large number were stec-
cessful.
The experiments on the sugar-beets were so satisfactory
plans for continuing the work another year have already
been formed. For results in this line of tests see bulletin
number 60.
BULLETINS PUBLISHED.
I. The results of the experiments on the cotton during
the season of 1893 were published in bulletin number 56,
issued May, 1893. The following are the chief points in
this bulletin:
1. Introduction.
2. The plan of the cotton flower and the method adopted
by nature for maturing the seed.
3. Methods adopted in the field for producing the
crossing.
4. Some of the problems to be solved.
5. Four tables of results.
6. Four full page illustrations with several outs.
11
II. Some of the results secured in testing tho foreign
seeds were published in bulletin number 60, January, 1895.
The contents of this bulletin are :
1. Ragi millet (Eleusine coracana.)
2. Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum.)
3. New Japanese buckwheat.
4. Flat pea (Lathyrus sylvestris).
5. Sugar beets.
6. Bengal gram or chick-pea (Cicer arietinum).
7. Green gram or small kidney bean (Phaseolus mungo).
8. Sesame or oily-grain (Sesamum orientale).
9. Soja bean (Glycine hispida).
There has been considerable demand on the part of the
farmers of Alabama for the forage plants and buckwheat
mentioned in this bulletin. The supply of seeds on hand
available for this purpose was soon exhausted and a num-
ber of applicants were disappointed.
STATION LIBRARY.
The station library under my charge has steadily grown
since my last report. Many valuable scientific journals and
books have been purchased. More than one hundred vol-
umes of periodicals were bound last year and are now in an
available form for reference and preservation. The total
number of volumes and pamphlets on the shelves amounts
to more than 9,600.
S Very respectfully,
P. H. MELL,
Botanist.
REPORT OF THE CHEMIST.
DR. WM. LEROY BROUN, President
Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College :
SIR:-I respectfully submit the following report as to the
operations of the Chemical department during the past year.
Since the date of the last annual report, nearly 400 sam-
ples of fertilizers have been analyzed in this laboratory, al-
most all of these samples having been forwarded through
the State Department of Agriculture in accordance with
the provisions of the fertilizer law.
In July of the past year, a bulletin was prepared by this
department and issued by the Commissioner of Agriculture,
in which the analyses of about 
350 samples of fertilizers
were published, and in addition, 
there was included a de-
scription of the crude fertilizing materials employed 
in the
preparation of mixed fertilizers and of the 
characteristics
and uses of the more common forms of commercial manures.
In May, 1894, Bulletin No. 
57 by Dr. J. T. Anderson, 
first
assistant chemist, was issued, and contained a report 
of an
investigation of the "soil requirements of cotton as 
deter-
mined by the analysis of the plant," the experiments being
made upon soils of different character and the plant analy-
ses being made at several different stages of growth.
Additional experiments in connection with this 
same
line of investigation have been in progress during the 
past
season.
Bulletin No. 58, published in August, 1894, gave the re-
sults of the examination of a number of samples of Paris
Green collected from various portions of the State, 
with a
view to determining to what extent the adulteration of this
insecticide was carried. In one instance it was found 
that
Paris Green was entirely absent from a preparation 
sold
13.
under this name, and these results were published with a
view to cautioning farmers against the purchase of the
spurious article.
In addition to the analysis of commercial fertilizers above
referred to, there have been analyzed in this laboratory
during the past year, a number of samples of marls, cave
earths, bat manures, mucks, soils, mineral waters, ores,
feed stuffs, sugar cane, syrups, and various miscellaneous
substances.
A number of samples of sugar beets, cultivated under the
supervision of Dr. P. H. Mell, wereanalyzed during the
past summer and fall, and some of the results showed an
unexpectedly high sugar content.
A number of imported forage plants, grown on the botan-
ical plots, have also been analyzed to determine their nu-
tritive or feeding values.
During the fall, some experiments in syrup making were
undertaken by this department with a view to an improve-
ment of the methods of the manufacture, clarification and
preservation of syrups, and it is believed that the intro-
duction of some of these improved methods will materially
improve the character and at the same time increase the
yield of this product.
Arrangements have been made to conduct some experi-
ments in the cultivation of sugar cane during the present
year and it is intended that the experiments in syrup mak-
ing shall be carried out on larger scale during the next
season.
A bulletin upon the subject of fertilizers and soils is
now in process of preparation, it being designed to fur-
nish therein information with reference to the composition,
characteristics and best modes of utilizing materials as
commercial manures, with a view to encouraging a more
general and intelligent development of the manurial re-
sources of the farm.
Respectfully,
B. B. Ross,
Chemist,
REPORT OF THE AGRICUL TURIST.
DR Wm. LEROY BROUN, President,
Alabama Ayricultural and Mechanical Colleqe:
SIR :-I have the honor to submit the following rep ort of
the~ work in the Department of Agriculture during the past
year.
Since I submitted my last report, January, 1894, the fol-
lowing bulletins have been issued from this department.
]3UILETIN NO. 54.
This bulletin contains results of experiments. with tobacco
made on the experiment station, 1893. It contains reports
of the different methods of raising tobacco plants, prepara-
tion for transplanting the plants, method of cultivation,
curing tobacco, classification and valuation, with statistics
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in regard to the
yield and value of the tobacco crop.
BULLETIN NO. 59.
This bulletin contains reports of twenty-three soil-test
experimenters to whom, fertilizers were sent in different
parts of the State, including the report of this station. Bul-
letins showing the results of experiments made the past
year with cotton and corn are now ready to be printed. A
bulletin giving a 'report of the tobacco experiments has
been commenced and will be gotten ready for publication as
soon as possible.
EXPERIMENTS.
Below will be found a plan of the experiments conducted
on the station the past year, under supervision of the farm
superintendent.
15
1 Comparison of the agricultural value of compost 
put
out in the Spring with the materials of the compost put 
in
the list in January.
2. Y Value of peas in renovating old and worn out land.
3. Comparison of rye with ensilage as to cost in produc-
ing milk.
4. Best crop of corn on one acre with fertilizers.
5. Best crop of cotton on one acre with fertilizers.
6. Experiments on varieties of tobacco.
7. Experiments in horticulture.
8. Catch crops in the fall for green manuring.
9. Experiments in pig feeding.
10. Experiments with cow peas to determine their value
as a means of improving poor or worn out lands and as
nitrogen collectors.
Experiments Conducted on the Botanical Garden.
11. Grass experiments to determine the native wild
grasses.
12. The adaptation of foreign grasses and other foreign
plants to this climate.
13. Experiments on the cultivation of bread producing
plants imported from foreign countries for this purpose.
14. Experiments on fibre producing plants from foreign
countries. Among the number will be foreign cotton.
15. Continuation of the experiments of crossing our
varieties of native cotton.
16. Experiments with foreign ornamental plants.
17. Experiments with foreign fruit Irees and other
plants.
Experiments Conducted by Professor of Agriculture.
20 special nitrogen experiments on tobacco.
13 Phosphoric Acid experiments on tobacco.
12 potash experiments on tobacco.
6 tobacco experiments with mixed fertilizing substances.
16 variety tests with tobacco.
16
6 tobacco experiments with stable manure.
20 soil test experiments on corn and cotton.
2 experiments each of cotton and corn as comparison with
acid phosphate, cotton seed meal, and kainit against cotton
seed, stable manure acid phosphate and kainit.
10 intercultural experiments on cotton.
Rotation experiments.
Experiments were also made with rye, wheat and oats.
For conducting all the above experiments full directions
were given to the farm superintendent to whom details of
management were intrusted.
GO-OPERATIVE SOIL TEST.
Twenty-seven experimenters living in different parts of
the State were supplied with fertilizers compounded at the
station to conduct corn experiments. The result of this
work is reported in bulletin No. 54, which has been published
and distributed to the farmers of the State.
CO-OPERATIVE SEED TEST.
About the first of last January, I was requested by the
Agricultural Department at Washington to furnish names
of farmers in different parts of the State, who were willing
to co-operate with the department in experimenting with
foreign cotton, field and garden seeds.
In compliance with this request, I furnished the names
of fifty-two intelligent farmers to conduct this experimental
work. Seed were sent direct from the Agricultural Depart-
ment to these parties-printed blanks were sent from this
department, which were prepared in Washington upon
which these reports were to be made.
The reports from the different experimenters are now be-
ing received by the agriculturist, andany facts they may
contain of value will be published in bulletin, together
with the investigations made by this department the past
year with foreign cotton and other seeds.
17
This new line of station work will be continued the pres-
ent year. I have already furnished to the Agricultural De-
partment at Washington double the number of names sent
last year, and have been informed that the necessary seed
will be sent to them. Also such seeds as may be needed
for the experiments by this department with new seeds will
be sent.
Respectfully,
ALEX. J. BONDURANT,
Agriculturist.
REPORT OF THE BIOLOGIST.
DR. WM. LEROY BROUN, President
Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College:
SIR :-I have the honor to submit the following report of
the work in the Department of Biology during the past year:
Two bulletins have been published as follows:
Bulletifi No. 55, April, 1894, entitled, "A New Disease of
Cotton. Cotton Boll Rot," discusses a new bacterial disease
of cotton affecting the seed, lint and bolls. This is a very
destructive disease in certain localities in the Southern part
of the State, where it has caused a loss of 30 per cent. to
the cotton in the affected districts. Pure cultures of the
bacteria causing the disease were separated and cultivated
in agar-agar tubes, and inoculations made from these tubes
into healthy cotton bolls caused the disease in question,
thus proving that these bacteria are the cause of the dis-
ease. The bulletin discusses the nature and cause of the
disease, and gives the biological, morphological and patho-
genic characters of the bacteria in question, together with
the methods of its isolation, cultivation and inoculation.
Two insects found associated with, but not the cause of
the disease, are also discussed. The remedies and precau-
tions to be followed in regard to this bacterial disease is
then discussed. A plate accompanying the bulletin shows
the bacteria as seen in a tube culture natural size, two fig-
ures of the bacteria greatly magnified, and figures of the
two insects found associated with the disease, also a figure
of a diseased cotton boll cut open to show the way in
which the disease attacks the bolls.
Bulletin No. 61, January, 1895, entitled, "Insects Inju-
rious to Stored Grain," contains some general remarks in
19
regard to the life histories and habits of insects in general,
their classification for economic purposes, and the various
stages at which they can best be combatted. The different
kinds of insecticides for both biting and sucking insects,
with formula for making and- methods of application are
then given, together with the nature of the insect to be de-
stroyed by each. A few of the best machines for apylying
various kinds of insecticides and fungicides are then figured,
and a short description with the manufacturer's address is
given. The following insects are then discussed, and their
habits aid life histories briefly given, together with figures
of the adult, and also of its various stages and work in most
cases:
The Pea Weevil (Bruchus pisi, Linn.)
The Bean Weevil (Brucus obtectus, Say.)
The Four-Spotted Bean Weevil (Bruchus 4-maculata.)
The Grain or Corn Weevil (Calandra granaria, Linn.)
The Black or Rice Weevil (Calandra oryce, Linn.)
The Angoumois Grain Moth (Gelechia cerealella, Oliv.)
The Grain Beetle (Silvanus surinamensis, Linn.)
The Red Grain Beetle (Silvanus cassioe, Reiche.)
The Brown Grain Beetle (Tribolium ferrugineum, Fab.)
The Corn Sap Beetle (Carpoph ilus fallipennis, Say.)
Remedies for Grain Insects.
The Plant Laboratory has been of great service in ren-
dering possible the study of and experiment with different
fungoid diseases of plants during the winter months. It also
serves as an insectary, where the breeding of injurious in-
sects and a study of their life histories can be conducted
and experiments performed.
Special attention has been directed towards a study of
the conditions that govern, control and modify the attack
and growth of diseases in cotton; and experiments to
determine the remedies, both preventive and curative, have
received more attention than the nature and cause of the
disease itself. In other words, less attention and time has
been given to the discovery of new diseases, and more de-
voted to the control of old ones.
20
Experiments with different fertilizers and fungicides have
been conducted with varying success.
The combining of different kinds of insecticides for biting
and sucking insects, 'nd also the combining of insecticides
and fungicides, has been experimented upon with good re-
sults, and much time and trouble can thus be saved.
Work is progressing in the study of economic bacteriolo-
gy, mycology and entomology, and the collections of eco-
nomic fungi and of insects has been greatly added to.
One lecture was delivered to the State Agricultural Socie-
ty in Montgomery on Fruit Tree Blight.
Respectfully submitted,
J. M. STEDMAN,
Biologist.
REPORT OF THE VETERINARIAN,
To PRESIDENT WM. 
LEROY BROUN,
Of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College:
SIR :-I herewith submit the following as the annual re-
port of the Veterinary Department of the Experiment Sta-
tion.
Lectures upon the diseases of domestic animals have
been delivered in various parts of the State. This work
has been continued because there were requests from the
various localities, for instruction on the more common dis-
eases of farm animals. One lecture on Texas fever was
delivered in Montgomery at the Farmers Institute held
during the State Fair.
Numerous letters relating to the various diseases of stock
that have appeared in the State during the past year, have
been received and answered.
In the later part of June, I personally investigated an out-
break of Texas fever, near Matthews Station, Montgomery
county.
In January, 1894, this department 
issued Bulletin 53, "A
New Milk or Water Sterilizer." The aim of this bulletin
was to give a simple and effective method of destroying the
disease producing germs that may appear in milk or water;
and at the same time preserve the taste, healthfulness and
digestibility of these staple food articles.
This department planned pig-feeding experiments; the
aim of which were to test the values of raw cotton seed and
cotton seed meal as pig foods, when mixed with other foods,
such as green rye, green oats, green sorghum and sweet po-
tatoes. So far the results show that green cotton seed can
22
be so fed with profit 
and. without danger 
to the health of the
pigs. This, however, 
needs further test before 
we can issue
a bulletin or draw definite 
conclusions.
During last year 
-nearly 400 cases 
were examined 
and
treated at the Saturday 
free clinic.
The department 
is now equipping 
a bacteriological 
and
pathological laboratory,. 
which will soon 
be ready for use
in the study of pathogenic 
germs and pathological 
specimens.
Respectfully submitted,
C. A. CARY,
Veterinarian.