REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



To the Director of the Cornet/ University Agricultural Experiment 

 Station : 



Sir :— 



The work of the horticultural division for the year just 

 closing has been in all respects satisfactory. A large amount of 

 experimental work has been inaugurated and two or three important 

 experiments have received much attention. A large part of the 

 endeavor of the year, however, has been spent directly upon con- 

 structive matters. The equipment of the division is now assum- 

 ing shape, and there is every reason to believe that in the coining 

 years work of the very highest character can be done. 



Perhaps the most important feature of the horticultural work 

 thus far, is that associated with the forcing structures. When the 

 horticultural work fell into my hands, about two years ago, there 

 was nothing with which to begin operations. A bare and open 

 field, covered with snow, was the place selected upon which to 

 build glass houses. The building was begun in January, 1889, 

 under great difficulties of weather. A small structure, twenty by 

 sixty feet, was erected, heated by steam, a steam boiler being 

 placed in a rude cellar at one end, with a temporary shed roof 

 over it. This house cost $750.00, approximately, and was com- 

 pleted in time to start plants for the year's operations. In the fall 

 of 1889, two more glass houses were erected, comprising a total 

 area of twelve hundred square feet. In addition to these, a large 

 work room and photograph gallery and other rooms were erected, 

 and during the winter of 1 889-1 890 a considerable series of ex- 

 periments was undertaken. In the fall of 1890, three other glass 

 houses were erected with additional work rooms, which at this 

 writing are just being fitted up to receive plants. 



The forcing house plant (Fig. 5) covers 5,300 square feet of 

 ground, of which approximately 4,000 square feet is covered with 

 glass. The plan, (Plate XIII,) shows the arrangement of these 

 houses, and the illustration ( Fig. 5,) shows the elevation as 

 seen from the south-west. The glass houses are seven in num- 



