4. TEST FARMS.

This closes the ninth year's work at the Edgecombe, the sixth at the Iredell, the fourth at the Pender, the fourth at the Transylvania and the first at the Buncombe farms. All experiments, as well as the farms generally, have been conducted during the past two years on the same general plan as outlined in previous reports. Experiments with field crops are repeated, after modifications and extension in accordance with the teachings of continued experience and observation on the different farms from year to year. It is proposed to continue this repetition a sufficient length of time to eliminate abnormalities in season, and thereby secure results that will be reliable for an average year. The farms are sufficiently large, so that quite a considerable acreage, relatively, can also be devoted to general farming. In this branch of the work the results obtained on the experimental plats with different crops are made of direct application. As most farmers are reached easily through the eye, it is felt that this feature of the work is proving not only an influential factor in impressing visiting farmers with the importance and benefit of the work that is being carried on by the Department in their behalf, but also serves as a source of considerable revenue in aiding in defraying the expenses of the detailed work of the experimental portion.

With field crops the greater portion of the experimental work carried on on the test farms has been in studying the fertilizer requirements, varietal adaptations, cultural treatment and most suitable rotations of the leading crops of the State when grown on our leading soil-type areas, as represented by the different farms.

Fertilizer Experiments.-From the beginning the fertilizer tests have comprised an important feature of the test-farm work. There are at present something like six hundred and fifty fertilizer tests planned and conducted each year. Up to this time most effort has been expended along this line in the study of corn, cotton, cowpeas, peanuts, wheat and oats. With corn and cotton each year between sixty and seventy-five fertilizer tests with each are conducted on one-tenth-acre plats. Twenty-two of these are devoted to different combinations and amounts of the three fertilizer constituents-nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash--with the view of determining the best-balanced fertilizers and best-paying amounts for these crops on these particular lands. Three plats are given to testing the effect of dividing the fertilizer and applying on one plat half of all the constituents at planting and half later, and in two cases to apply all the acid phosphate and kainit and one-half the cotton-seed meal before planting, putting on the other half of the nitrogen later, as nitrate of soda on one plat and as cotton-seed meal on the other. Two plats are given over to the testing of the effect of lime; a considerable number to comparing cotton-seed meal, dried blood, cotton seed, stable manure, calcium cyanamid, sulphate of ammonia and other new nitrogenous-furnishing materials as sources of nitrogen; six to a study of the effects of applying fertilizers at different depths and in different quantities per acre.

Also, especially during the three years, extended experiments have been planned and put out with the idea of comparing the relative value of different carriers of both phosphoric acid and nitrogen. In these tests from seven to ten different experiments with both cotton and corn have been conducted with each of the following fertilizing materials: nitrate of soda, "fillerine," Thomas or basic slag, and ground phosphate rock.

With Cowpeas and Peanuts.-Sixty fertilizer tests with cowpeas at the Iredell and Edgecombe farms and thirty-three with peanuts at the Edgecombe farm have been conducted. Quite a number of experiments designed to study the fertilizing requirements of alfalfa have also been put out. These tests are all along the same general scheme as those outlined above for cotton and corn. It is felt that much definite and valuable information as to the manurial requirements of these different legumes is being accumulated. The results from these experiments, when they have been conducted a sufficient length of time, will be brought together in tabulated form and such practical deductions made from them as the data warrant. In all the fertilizer tests with cowpeas one-half of each plat is cut for hay, while from the remaining half the peas are picked.

With Wheat.-Something like twenty fertilizer tests with wheat have been conducted at the Iredell farm. These wheat experiments are in rotation with cowpeas, the work being so planned that the formula of the fertilizer applications received by any one plat is the same for both wheat and cowpeas, although the actual application and proportion of fertilizing constituents is different for the different crops, due to the fact that the normal application or manurial requirements for each is not the same. For example, plat 6 received the normal (N K P) application with both the cowpea and wheat mixtures, and so on throughout the tests.

Variety, Culture and Distance Tests with Corn and Cotton.-Something over fifty varieties of corn have been studied in co-operative field tests on onetwentieth to one-tenth acre plats at the Edgecombe, Iredell, Transylvania and Buncombe farms up to the present, and over forty kinds of cotton on the Edgecombe and Iredell farms. The results of these tests have frequently been very striking, due to the great difference in yield of different varieties under identical conditions of soil, fertilization, cultivation, etc. About thirty distance, variety-distance and culture tests with cotton have been conducted at the Edgecombe and Iredell farms during the past four years to study the best distancing between rows and plants in the row, as well as the most favorable and economic cultural treatment.

With Cowpeas, Peanuts and Alfalfa.—Thirty varieties of cowpeas, four or five of peanuts, and seed of alfalfa from a number of sources have been tested. This work, with peanuts, has been conducted at the Edgecombe farm and on the farm of an individual grower in Hertford County (Mr. T. E. Browne). Experiments to determine the best quantity of seed per acre of cowpeas, as well as the most favorable distancing and number of plants per hill, have been conducted at both the Edgecombe and Iredell farms.

With Wheat.-At the Iredell farm during the past five years a study of more than twenty varieties of wheat has been made on the same general plan that has been followed with corn and cotton.

Rotation Tests with Corn and Cotton.-In the fertilizer test series ten plats are devoted to each of these crops to see if vetch, peas, bur clover, velvet beans, soja beans and peanuts-winter and summer growing gatherers-will not collect from the atmosphere all the nitrogen required for the growth of these crops. Also, a study is being made of the effects upon yields of short rotations of both corn and cotton with bur clover, crimson clover and hairy vetch. These experiments are on a rather large scale, and a crop of corn and cotton is produced each year. By the rotation of bur clover with corn the yield of corn on

the same land has been raised from twelve to fifteen bushels per acre to forty or more within the past three or four years. Another rotation tried with promising results is as follows:

(1) First year, peanuts, followed by wheat; second year, wheat, followed by cowpeas; third year, corn, with cowpeas at last cultivation; fourth year, cotton.

Breeding Tests of Corn and Cotton.-Work is in progress to increase the yield of these two crops through more intelligent selection of seed. Also, effort is being made to improve the shape of one of our leading varieties of corn and to increase the percentage of lint to seed of cotton, as well as the study of the effect of such work upon the diameter of the staple and the percentage of oil in the seed.

Pender Farm.-The Pender farm is devoted mainly to the study of truck and horticultural crops, in testing varieties, fertilizer treatment, methods of culture and handling, etc. A considerable area has been put out in pecans to ascertain the varieties which will give best results on that soil. These tests are being repeated on the Edgecombe and Iredell farms to determine the area in the State where pecans can be grown to advantage.

In co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture there are being brought together on this farm all the varieties of the Scuppernong grape, with a view of studying them and determining the best methods of pruning, training, fertilizing, cultivating and handling.

Transylvania Farm.-During the past year this farm has been run with a view of making it meet expenses as nearly as possible and at the same time take care of what experimental work had been put out on it. An orchard of eight to ten acres was planted four years ago and is making fair progress. When it comes into bearing we should obtain from it valuable data as to the varieties of apples best suited to that section of the State and information regarding elevation and exposure. A home orchard has been put out around the house and some work with varieties of corn and fertilizer tests conducted. Buncombe Farm.-We have been on this farm less than a year and have only been able to make a fair beginning. We feel that it is an excellent place, from the standpoint of location and accessibility, and should prove to be one of our most valuable farms. Our work this year has been mainly in testing varieties and fertilizer treatment for oats, corn and potatoes. The fertilizer tests with these crops have been especially valuable, as they show the soil to be quite one-sided in its fertilizer requirements; and if repetition of the experiments confirm the experience of the present year, they will result in much saving of fertilizers on that type of soil. It is too early to go into a report of the results.

Farmers' Interest in the Farm Work.-The increasing interest of farmers in the working and results of the test farms is demonstrated by the greatly augmented number that visit the farms each succeeding year. These visits are not confined to any one season of the year. They are usually made either to study the different farm crops growing on the farms under different cultural, fertilizer, etc., treatments, or else to seek information from the superintendents on different subjects pertaining to farming operations.

5. SOIL WORK.

During the past two years soil maps have been made by the Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture, in co-operation with this

Department, of Henderson, Robeson, Caswell and Edgecombe counties, and a map of Pitt County is now being prepared. The following counties have been mapped: Henderson, Robeson, Caswell, Edgecombe, Duplin, New Hanover, Chowan, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Transylvania, Alamance, and more or less of the following ones covered: Iredell, Rowan, Lincoln, Catawba, Alexander, Caldwell, Yancey, Mitchell, Buncombe, Haywood, Craven, Jones, Lenoir and Pitt. These maps have been made on a basis of the county as a unit, and, when taken in connection with the areas heretofore mapped, amount to 20 to 25 per cent of the total area of the State. An arrangement is now in operation with the Bureau of Soils by which a man is detailed for permanent work in the State, along with a worker from this Department. This will enable us to proceed with the mapping of the soils of the different counties somewhat more rapidly, as the work will be continuous, and will enable us, when certain important areas are completed, to bring together the results to a better advantage for us in connection with the test farm and other work of the Department. We are getting together data with the view of issuing a report descriptive of the soils of the several counties worked, the crops generally grown in them, the crops best adapted to the different soils, and the fertilization best suited to these soils and crops, together with other data, which will be of interest and value to the present residents of those counties and to persons who may have in mind to purchase lands or properties in them.

In the past eight years a large number of samples of soils have been collected in the soil-survey work and analyses made of them in the laboratory. The number now amounts to between 800 and 1,000. These analyses, together with the experiments on the test farms, have thrown much light on the fertilizer requirements of the soils, together with the crops which are best suited to them. In the immigration work which the Department is doing we find that many of the inquiries which come regarding land ask for specific information as to certain types of soils, where they can be found and what can be grown on them to best advantage in the State. The reports referred to above, and which we have in mind issuing, will cover all of these points and will enable us to give clearly and in a more satisfactory way the information which is generally desired by settlers regarding the soils and the agriculture of the several counties.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Our correspondence continues to grow in connection with all phases of our work, showing the increased interest with which our endeavors in these several lines are followed. Very respectfully,

B. W. KILGORE,
State Chemist.

IMMIGRATION.

HON. W. A. GRAHAM, Commissioner,

and Chairman of the Board of Agriculture.

DEAR SIR-No active work along the line of foreign immigration has been done since the panic of 1908. Still we have received through our agents sixteen Scotch and English, and six families have come from other States. Four of these families are from Ohio, one from Michigan and one from Indiana, and most of them have purchased farms.

The total for the past two years is eighty-nine foreigners, thirteen families and several men from other States.

There are certain localities from which we have received many inquiries. I would suggest that special efforts be made to lay before these people the advantages that North Carolina has to offer to home-seekers; that this be done by making exhibits of farm products, together with lantern pictures, literature, etc., and that these exhibits be thoroughly advertised, locally, before they reach these points. Most of the material, with cases to pack the same, and colored lantern slides have already been collected.

Lists of farm lands offered for sale through the Department have been published in four pamphlets-Mountain, Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and Tidewater sections.

We have advertised the advantages of the State in the Northern, Western and Northwestern papers, but with unsatisfactory results, caused, I am sure, by the inopportune time at which the advertisements were placed. From information I have since gained, I am sure the results would have been different had the advertising been done in the fall and winter.

Corporations and private parties have done good work in immigration, notably the Carolina Trucking Development Company. The Department heartily co-operates with each and every one in this work.

Lists of all parties making inquiry through the Department with a view of purchasing property in this State are given to the papers for publication. To prove the effectiveness of this plan, I received a letter from one of the inquirers saying he had received twenty-five letters in the last few days from parties in this State wishing to sell him farm lands.

I believe, from my own observation and from correspondence with many engaged in and interested in immigration work, that much has been accomplished through this Department in advertising the State's resources and in wiping out to a great extent in the North and West that feeling of prejudice against our State which has so long existed, and that we may now hope to begin to reap benefits resulting in part from work already done.

Respectfully submitted,

ELIAS CARR,

Secretary.