REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE WEST

VIRGINIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERI

MENT STATION.

Gentlemen of the Board of Regents:

In submitting for your consideration this Report of the condition and the operations of the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, I will first give a summary of the reports of the work of the several departments in the Station, after which I shall submit other matters for the consideration of the Board.

The work in the Experiment Station at present is organized in the following departments: Entomology, Chemistry. Horticulture, (which covers portions of Agriculture) and Meteorology. In addition to these, we have the outlaying experiments and the executive work under the control of the Directo).

The activity of the Staff during the past year in their several departments of work has been such that I cannot undertake to give more than a short review of what has been done, much has been published and much remains to be published.

In the Entomological Department, Dr. Hopkins reports numerous facts and discoveries, several of which are new to science, and have important economic bearings. Among these I may mention the discovery of the insects destroying chestnut timber, which created considerable discussion and interest among Entomologists; the discovery of some new insects destroying seasoned timber; the discovery of an undescribed enemy of poplar trees and a new apple tree pest; also the discovery of a new form of potato scab; another enemy of the German prune tree; a new and serious enemy of the common plum trees; also observations upon the introduction of serious

pests into our State, in the form of bagworms, the clover leaf beetle, oyster shell bark louse, and other insect pests of serious character.

In a number of cases our Entomologist thinks that he has been able to suggest remedies, which, if applied at the proper time, and with sufficient energy, will tend to diminish the ravages of these enemies to forest, farm, and garden vegetation.

Dr. Hopkins has also prepared a number of papers for scientific societies, and has attended several meetings of these societies, participating in the discussions. The titles of some of his scientific papers that have been read are: Insect Enemies of Yellow Poplar; Notes on Some Discoveries and Observations of the Year, in West Virginia; Some Notes on West Virginia Forests and the Relation of Insects and Birds to Certain Forest Conditions; Some Interesting Condition in Wood Resulting from an Attack of Insects and Woodpeckers; Sexual Character of Scolytidæ; Practical Notes on the Breeding and Feeding of Mutton Sheep; Relation of Insects to a Farmer's Success; Some Notes on the Fertilizer Problem; Insects Which are Injurious to Farm Crops.

Some of these papers were read at meetings of scientific societies in Brooklyn, in Washington City, and at Farmers' Institutes or bodies of like character. Besides these, technical papers have been published in the proceedings of several scientific societies, and also papers of a general character furnished to the State and county papers, for the general information of the farmers.

The precarious condition of Dr. Hopkins' health for the past few months has prevented him from completing many things which he had under way, and I may say that few men in the country have done more scientific work of a high order during the past year, than has Dr. Hopkins He has published a large amount of original scientific investigations, and has taken rank among the best scientific men of the country engaged in his specialty.

In this department there is one assistant, Mr. W. E. Rumsey, a graduate of Cornell University, who assists in Entomo

logical work, and tends very largely to the photographic work for all departments of the Station. He also prepared a paper for publication upon "Some Fruit Tree Insects and How to Fight Them." Mr. Rumsey receives a salary of $50 a month; he has been here for some time and his services are worth more than we are paying him; I reccommend that the Board increase his salary to $60 per month. I think also that Dr. Hopkins' salary should be increased from $1,500 to $1,600 a year. The work in this department has been very satisfactory. I may add that there is no Station in the country at present, publishing more original investigation in the line of economic entomology than we are at this Station; and it is due to the persistent work of our Entomologist, who has tried to avail himself of every opportunity that was offered to him.

The report submitted by the Chemist covers only the period since February 1st, Dr. de Roode, our former chemist, tendered his resignation to take effect Feb. 1st, having accepted a position in New York, at a salary of $2,500, accompanied by fine prospects for advancement in the future. We were paying him $1,350, and he thought it best, as perhaps any of us would, under the circumstances, to accept the offer. The result was, that on about five days notice, with over 100 samples of fertilizer on hands, we were compelled to reorganize the Chemical Department of the Station. Upon consultation with the members of the Station Committee I appointed as chief Chemist, Mr. B. H. Hite, a former graduate of our University, possessing considerable inventive talent, and who had already done considerable work in this Station, some of which has been published. He had been taking a post graduate course of study for about four years in Johns Hopkins University, and held a fellowship in that institution. It was our expectation (as reported to the Committee) at the time that Mr. Hite would take his degree of Ph. D. this June, but the heavy work connected with the charge of the department made it necessary for him to defer graduating till next February.

Our Chemical Department was left in a very bad shape by

the resignation of Dr. de Roode. He had permitted the accumulation of a large number of fertilizer samples, and the trade was about to open. Under the law regulating the sale of fertilizers in this State, they all have to be analyzed before they can be legally sold in the State. It was therefore necessary to secure additional assistance, and by permission of the Station Committee, I secured the assistance of Dr. G. W. Gray, who was then just completing his thesis in Johns Hopkins University, and who has since taken his examinations and is now a Doctor of Philosophy of Johns Hopkins, having previously taken the regular course of study in that institution. Dr. Gray has also had considerable experience in general analytical work in sugar refineries and in steel works. He is a very rapid, careful and reliable chemist, and is worthy of the highest confidence and respect. Both Mr. Hite and Dr. Gray have furnished scientific matter for publication in chemical journals, some of which has appeared in European journals.

These two gentlemen undertook the work that had been left in such confusion by Dr. de Roode, with great enthusiasm, and attempted to clear up the fertilizer analyses by persistent and continued work, but samples of fertilizers continued to come in so rapidly that at the end of a month, after these gentlemen. had been working all day and until midnight every night, it was demonstrated that additional help was necessary in the Chemical Department, which the Station Committee authorized. The position was offered to a young man just about taking his doctor's degree in Johns Hopkins, who declined to accept the salary that we could pay, and I was compelled to look elsewhere. I secured as second assistant Mr. T. W. Watson, a graduate of the Mississippi Agr. College, who had done a large amount of fertilizer work in the State Chemical Laboratory in Mississippi, and who has also assisted Dr. de Roode for a number of months. Since then we have been able to keep the work of this department well in hand.

The great enlargement of fertilizer analyses in this State this year has rendered the additional help in the Laboratory necessary, and should it continue to increase next year as it has this

year, it may be necessary for still more in that department. The work under the present organization has been carried on with great dispatch and in a very satisfactory manner. There has not been, so far as I can remember, a single complaint from any manufacturer in regard to results.

The salaries in this department are as follows:

B. H. Hite, $1,350 per year; G W. Gray, $900 per year; T. F. Watson, $720.

The department is very thoroughly organized, but owing to the increased work we shall be at some expense in adjusting the Laboratory to suit the increased force, and provide for other lines of investigation. This, however, can be best attended to from time to time, as emergencies may require, and need not consume the time of the board at this meeting, should they see fit to continue substantially, the present system of administration.

I detailed Mr. Hite to visit various sections of the State, and he has inspected the fertilizers offered for sale in all of the northern, western and eastern counties of the State. The central and southern portions of the State remain yet to be inspected which we propose to look after at a very early date. There seems to be considerable violation of the law in some sections, and an effort upon the part of fertilizer dealers to evade it. We shall report a number of these agents to the prosecuting attorneys, as required by law for prosecution under its provisions.

The report of the Horticultural Department shows very material progress of this work in the Station, and our Horticulturist, Prof. Rane, has been active and faithful in the discharge of his duties. He has carried on to completion, and published considerable scientific work in this department, not only in bulletin form, but also in the reports of the State Horticultural Society, and in the county and State papers, as well as Agricultural papers in the country.

The leading experiments in this department have consisted in testing different varieties of various vegetables and the smaller