THE EXPERIMENT STATION EXTENSION, OR 



NIXON, BILL. 



A law was made last winter appropriating $8,000 to be expended by Cornell 

 University for the benefit of horticulture in the Fifth Judicial Department 

 of the State — an area comprising the counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Yates, 

 Steuben, and all counties to the westward. This fund is to be expended " in 

 conducting investigations and experiments in horticulture; in discovering 

 and remedying ihe diseases of plants, vines and fruit trees ; in ascertaining 

 the best means of fertilizing vineyard, fruit and garden plantations, and of 

 making orchards, vineyards and gardens prolific ; in disseminating horticul- 

 tural knowledge by means of lectures or otherwise ; and in preparing and 

 printing, for free distribution, the results of such investigations and experi. 

 ments. and such other information as may be deemed desirable and profitable 

 in promoting the horticultural interests of the State." All this work is to be 

 prosecuted by Cornell University "under the general supervision and direc- 

 tion of the Commissioner of Agriculture. " 



This bill became a law so late in the season, that few particular lines of 

 experimentation could be attempted which should give results the present 

 year. But an effort has been made to complete a somewhat thorough survey 

 of the horticultural industries of the Fifth Judicial Department, and the 

 results of this undertaking are now appearing in bulletin form. Bulletins 69, 

 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76 and 77 belong to this series, and others, so far as the 

 fund will allow, are forthcoming. It is hoped that these reports, by discov- 

 ering and recording the present state of the interests of which they treat, may 

 form the basis for exact experimentation, if such is desired in the future. 

 Every good farm is, in an important sense, an experiment station, but its 

 teachings, in order to be valuable and of use to the commonwealth, must be 

 studied by a trained and disinterested observer. Such results, when published, 

 are of inestimable value, because they arise from. normal and practical condi 

 tions ; and they inspire a confidence and sympathy which investigations con- 

 ducted at a central experiment station can scarcely hope to awaken. 



Yet, certain experiments are already well under way. Somewhat extensive 

 investigations of the actual fertilizing of orchard lands are progressing in 

 various parts of western New York ; and about 500 acres of fruit plantations 

 have been sprayed directly or indirectly through our efforts, and the results 

 have been subjects of careful study. Aside from these, many special experi- 

 ments are in progress in the interest of the law, the precise nature of which 

 will appear as the investigations mature. It should also be said, that an im- 

 portant feature of the operation of the Nixon law, is the opportunity which 

 it extends to every horticulturist in the Fifth Judicial Department to have 

 his particular difficulties investigated, and to receive direct advice from per- 

 sons who are expert in particular directions. 



In order to fully secure the benefits of the law, it is necessary that horticul- 

 turists freely cooperate with us in the way of furnishing information, in allow- 

 ing us the use of plantations for study and experiment, and in laying before 

 us the difficulties under which they labor. 



L,. H. Bailey, Officer in Charge, 



Ithaca, N. Y. 



