ISTew York Agricultural Experiment Station. 9 



results in great inconvenience. The mailing department is tem- 

 porarily located on the second floor of the Chemical Laboratory, 

 rendering it necessary to carry up and down stairs many tons of 

 mailing matter yearly. All of the administration work of the 

 Station and the library should be newly installed under one roof, 

 for reasons of space as well as economy of labor. 



Two general ways of accomplishing this have been considered : 

 One proposition is to erect a new administration and library 

 building and convert the house where the ofiices now are wholly 

 to domestic purposes; the alternative is to build a new director's 

 house and turn over the mansion house wholly to office and library 

 uses. The arguments in favor of the former course are that 

 the administration and library building should correspond in 

 dignity and attractiveness to the other structures on the Sta- 

 tion grounds, and besides new construction would give an oppor- 

 tunity to make the offices models of convenience and efficiency, 

 without being hampered by the limitations of an existing struc- 

 ture. This is the more costly plan, involving an outlay of not 

 far from $32,000. On the other hand a new house would place 

 the director on a more comfortable and economical living basis 

 than would be the case if the somewhat overlarge house in which 

 he now lives were given over wholly to his occupancy, while 

 this building is probably large enough for the administrative 

 offices and library, though if reconstructed for these purposes it 

 would fail, as has been stated, of the dignity and convenience of 

 a new building. The probable cost of the second proposed plan 

 would be somewhere from $16,000 to $19,000. The argument of 

 less cost is with the second proposition. 



It seems proper to state in this connection that the water sup- 

 ply of the Station is in some respects very unsatisfactory. It is 

 furnished by the city at an annual cost of $501, and if the pres- 

 sure on the hydrants was such as to insure protection against 

 fire, and at the same time provide a constant and uniform flow of 

 water in the laboratories, there might be no good reason for con- 



