Report of the Director. 



To the President of Cornell University: 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith my ninth annual 

 report, with those of the treasurer, the chemist, the botanist and 

 the plant pathologist, the entomologist, the agriculturist, the 

 horticulturist and that of the assistant professor of dairy hus- 

 bandry and animal industry; together with an appendix of 

 eighteen bulletins, covering the year ending December 31, 1896. 

 Also a detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896. 



The reports and bulletins give, in brief, an outline of the work 

 undertaken and accomplished, with suggestions as to future op- 

 erations, together with the results of the year's work, so far as 

 they have been published. In addition to results reached by ex- 

 perimentation, much valuable information has been secured by 

 studying the condition of various branches of agriculture in 

 many localities throughout the State. In so large a State as 

 New York the conditions as to climate, soil and tillage vary so 

 widely that only by a study of growing crops in various localities, 

 and where serious damage to plants occurs, can the most satis- 

 factory results be secured. 



Chapter 437 of the Laws of 1896 provided funds to be expended 

 in the Fourth Judicial Department in " Conducting investiga- 

 tions and experiments in horticulture; in discovering and rem- 

 edying the disease of plants, vines and fruit trees; in ascertain- 



