Secretary's Report. 93 



strawberries upon a variety of soils. Twenty-five pounds 

 of the muriate of potash and twenty-five pounds of bone 

 dust were sent to eight members of the society with the fol- 

 lowing instructions: "Layoff a plat of 12 square rods; 

 leave 3 rods unmanured, put upon 3 rods unrotted barnyard 

 manure at the rate of 80 loads per acre, plow and harrow 

 the remaining 6 rods and apply the bone dust as a top dress- 

 ing to one-half and the muriate of potash to the remaining 

 3 rods; plant one rod of each of the four plats to Wilson, 

 one rod of each to Manchester, and the balance to Crescent; 

 plant in rows 3 feet apart and 18 inches in the rows." This 

 is a small beginning, perhaps, but it is something. A large 

 portion of the experimental work in horticulture must be 

 done by trained scientific men. The average practical man 

 is not exact enough. He does not understand conditions. 

 He jumps conclusions. The problems of horticulture are, 

 many of them, worked out only through long years of 

 patient, persistent, concentrated effort. Men in active busi- 

 ness have not the time and have not the money to do this 

 work. If experiments in horticulture cannot be carried on 

 at the state university, the work should be done at some 

 other point. It should be under the direction of Prof. Henry 

 and his assistants. We can then obtain more definite knowl- 

 edge about the relative value of fertilizers, the effects of 

 different systems of culture, the best' means to be used in 

 avoiding the results of drouth, the characteristics of varie- 

 ties of fruits and flowers and the methods of changing 

 those characteristics and creating new varieties. We could 

 then have some work done in entomology which would be 

 systematic, intelligent and profitable, plant diseases could 

 be thorougly studied and the influence of climatic variations 

 made a subject of exhaustive research. Scientific investi- 

 gation is revolutionizing the whole world of agriculture. 

 Horticulture is of sufficient importance to deserve the aid of 

 the state experimental station in keeping it abreast of the 

 advance being made in other departments of agricultural 

 knowledge. It rests largely with this society whether it 

 obtains a proper recognition or not. 



