DIRECTOR'S REPORT. 



M. C. Fernald, Ph. D., President Maine State College: 



Sir: — The work of the Experiment Station for 1888 has been 

 largely that of organization and preparation. This department of 

 the college, which has been created and endowed by the act of Con- 

 gress, and accepted by the legislature of this State, will, without 

 question, be maintained as a permanent agricultural institution, 

 provided the national appropriation is so applied in this and other 

 States as to meet the approval of the intelligent farming public. 

 In order that the Station organization shall be made on a perma- 

 nent and progressive basis, such as shall meet not only present, but 

 future needs, in a manner that shall insure the effective application 

 of the funds appi-opriated, it is necessar}^ to proceed slowly and 

 deliberately at first. This is the reason why at the end of nearly a 

 year's active existence, it is possible to report only a limited amount 

 of actual experimental work begun, and still less so far completed 

 as to report results. 



The erection of a building with its equipment of water, gas, 

 apparatus and furniture, the purchase of the appliances for field and 

 feeding experiments, and the special plans for the different depart- 

 ments of Station work have engrossed much time and thought. 

 The inspection of fertilizers, which becomes more and more laborious 

 each year, has also been carried on as usual. 



That which has been accomplished in these various directions, it 

 is the purpose of this report to make clear, and it is hoped that 

 what has been done as a beginning, in laying the foundations for 

 future work, will meet with approval. 



THE FORMER STATION. 



The Maine Legislature of 1885 passed an act locating at the college 

 what was to be known as the Maine Fertilizer Control and Agricultu- 

 ral Experiment Station, appropriating to its support the sum of $5000 



