350 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



necticut Legislature, however, was composed mainly of farmers, 

 and, strange as it may seem, the prejudice and sneers against 

 " book farming " has caused by far the larger number of like bills 

 to fail in such bodies whenever they have appeared. So it was 

 here, although numerous petitions had been circulated about the 

 State and very generally signed. The following winter also much 

 hard work was done to arouse public sentiment in favor of the 

 project ; but still the next Legislature, although confronted by 

 an increased number of petitions, could not be prevailed upon to 

 pass the appropriation of $8,000 a year which was asked. 



At this juncture Mr. Orange Judd, who had been an enthusias- 

 tic believer in the good of such an organization, came forward and 

 offered the use of the laboratories of Wesleyan University, on be- 

 half of the trustees of that institution, and $1,000 on his own part, 

 provided the Legislature would appropriate $2,800 a year, for two 

 years, to help pay the necessary expenses. The matter being 

 brought in this light to the Legislature, it immediately passed 

 the necessary bill, and the first American experiment station was 

 established, October 1, 1875, at Middletown, with Dr. W. O. Atwater, 

 who had been an indefatigible worker for the cause, and to whom 

 the chief credit for the station's establishment is undoubtedly due, 

 as its first director. 



The work accomplished in those first two years accomplished 

 under such disadvantages that only a specialist can realize them 

 was so helpful to the Connecticut farmers that they could but 

 acknowledge its benefits and provide for its continuance. When 

 the two years were ended, the annual appropriation was increased 

 to $5,000 ; and the Sheffield Scientific School having offered accom- 

 modations, the experiment station was reorganized at New Haven, 

 with Prof. Johnson in charge. Three years later the appropria- 

 tion was again increased to $8,000 yearly, and a special grant of 

 $25,000 was made to permanently establish it on land and in 

 buildings of its own. 



The experiment station thus begun has saved thousands of dol- 

 lars to Connecticut. Even in the first few years of its existence 

 it was so apparent, and could so easily be shown, that the station 

 was yearly saving several times its cost, that it was impossible for 

 it to remain in obscurity, even if such had been its desire. Its 

 fame soon spread beyond the limits of its own State, and numer- 

 ous deputations were received from others who desired to examine 

 into its workings. In 1876 California followed the example of the 

 Middletown Station. In 1877 the North Carolina Station was 

 organized. The Cornell University Station came next; then 

 New Jersey, New York at Geneva ; Ohio, Tennessee, Massachu- 

 setts, and others ; so that, when the Hatch act of March 2, 1887, 

 passed Congress, seventeen had been organized in fourteen States. 



