Report of the Horticulturist. 



To the Director of Cornell University Agricultural Experiment 

 Station : 



Sir. — The endeavors of the horticultural division of this 

 station have always fallen into two general lines of work : 

 First, a discussion of the methods of forcing plants, especially 

 plants which bear edible parts ; and second, the preparation of 

 monographs of certain plants or types of plants which are 

 adapted to field culture. There has never been any attempt to 

 make a mere test of varieties, nor to make any general and mis- 

 cellaneous experiments upon isolated and detached objects. The 

 theory of the division has rather been that certain subjects should 

 be well monographed, and that the study of this subject should 

 be continuous; that is, that it should occupy the attention year 

 after year, even after the publication of a certain amount of 

 result had been made in bulletin form. It therefore occurs that 

 we have at the present time many lines of inquiry which we 

 hope to monograph in the future. The division has endeavored 

 to appreciate the fact that the conditions, under which the horti- 

 culturists of the State and nation labor are exceedingly diverse, 

 and, therefore, the first province of the Experiment Station is to 

 discover or elucidate fundamental laws rather than simply to 

 make records and observations. 



In the pursuance of this plan the division is called upon to 

 make somewhat extended reports of its various inquiries, and 

 the funds at the disposition of the station are insufficient to allow 

 of the publication of these results. The greatest need which 



