AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 279 



ington, are in large degree explained by these revelations of 

 the state of the trade in Europe. 



It is but six or seven years since Dr. Nobbe first called 

 public attention to this subject. He has begun the publica- 

 tion of a book containing full descriptions and figures of all 

 the useful and hurtful seeds that occur in commerce ; and 

 already at some twenty experiment stations farmers are able 

 to get trustworthy examinations of seeds as to purity and 

 vitality, and at a trifling cost. 



To say that the farmers of Connecticut and of our entire 

 country urgently need the aid and stimulus of the Experi- 

 ment Stations, is to make a most evident assertion. Our 

 Agricultural Colleges have but few agricultural students. 

 The Agricultural Course of Instruction in this school is a 

 supply that meets little demand. The reason lies mainly in 

 the fact that our intellectual activity has the habit of running 

 in other than agricultural channels. To bring our farmers in 

 direct and profitable contact with the results of science, to 

 bring science into active and visible co-operation with the 

 toils and plans of the farm, would redound to the eminent 

 advantage of both. The experiment station, I cannot doubt, 

 is to be this point of contact, the focus of this co-operation. 



