An Effort to. Help the Farmer. 245 



Animal industry. — The results of investigations into the 

 cause of " gassy curds " in cheese are published in Bulletin 158. 

 Other subjects pertaining to the dair}- and animal industr}^ have 

 received attention, and the results are now practically ready for 

 publication. 



In general. — The popularity of the bulletins has exceeded all 

 expectations. New editions have been made of several of them, 

 and three (Nos. 119, 120, 121) have been reprinted five times. 

 Our mailing list is frequently revised in order to cut off all 

 dead and dormant names. The list is a "live" one; and yet 

 of the 62 Nixon bulletins, 907,000 copies have been issued, com- 

 prising 679 illustrations and 1880 pages. 



b. UNPUBLISHABLE WORK. 



Onl}^ a part of the work of any Experiment Station can be pub- 

 lished. Perhaps half its energies is consumed in correspondence, 

 giving personal advice, attending meetings, making records, and 

 the like. Nor is it desirable that all its experimental work be 

 published, particularly if it is conducted in different parts of the 

 State. The value of an experiment often lies in the fact that it 

 is an object lesson, and that it sets the people of any community 

 to thinking. An experiment in fertilizing potatoes, for example, 

 may be of the greatest value to a community and yet not produce 

 results which are new to science and worthy of publication. The 

 experiment, in other words, may have inestimable teaching value. 

 The farmer ma}^ read that spraying is necessar^^ He may even 

 understand how to perform the operation. But he really does 

 not believe in it until he sees it done and watches the results. 

 If the bulletin is a means of conveying information to the farmer, 

 certainly the itinerant experiment is another means. In fact, 

 the experiment maj^ be the more efficient means ; but it cannot 

 be taken to so great a number, and it is relatively much more 

 expensive. 



Of all the means of reaching the grown-up farmer, the per- 

 sonal visit to his place is the most efficient. He has a hundred 

 questions in mind. Some of these are settled for him when 

 the Experiment Station officer comes. He looks forward to the 

 visit ; and then he looks back upon it and is conscious that 



