IJSTDIANA HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. - 3G7 



lines of investigation I believe they would almost unanimously declare in 

 favor of the policy of directing experiment and research patiently and 

 persistently towards learning those truths which are of most permanent 

 value and widespread application. Then instead of asking "What new 

 thing have you done?" the query would be, "What are you trying to do 

 and how are you trying to do it?" Such an inquiry coming from the 

 practical man to the professional horticulturist at once opens the way to 

 cordial and sympathetic relations between the two and they are then in 

 the best position to help each other and to join in forwarding the interests 

 of horticulture. 



If the station horticulturist is to perform most effectively the higher 

 functions he must necessarily be relieved from some of the less important 

 ones. What are some of the less necessary functions? One of them is the 

 ' managing of the land in the horticultural department according to the 

 model farm or model garden idea. It is no light task to manage a model 

 fruit farm successfully. Probably no one has ever done it without laying 

 awake nights. And when it is done it is a model which others can safely 

 follow only so far as they have similar environment for trees and plants 

 and similar market demands, shipping facilities, available labor at similar 

 prices and a thousand and one other things which must be met and dealt 

 with by each individual according to circumstances and his own taste 

 and preferences. 



Governor Hord has said that "You can't expect a successful breeder 

 of Shorthorn cattle from a man with the .Jersey idea; nor a successful 

 breeder of Clydesdale or Percheron horses from a man pervaded with the 

 thoroughbred idea." In other words, a man will be most successful in 

 growing what he has a liking for, either natural or acquired. This is as 

 true of fruit growing and gardening as it is of stock raising. Should the 

 station horticulturist succeed in developing a model farm at the experi- 

 ment station it would be his model and not yours nor mine, and it would 

 be a model for his conditions and not for yours nor mine; and, worst of 

 all, or, rather, best of all, it would be permeated with his likes and dis- 

 likes and not yours nor mine. 



There is one feature of the instructional work to which the attention 

 of an audience like this may well be called. The station horticulturist 

 is often asked to give particular and detailed directions about how to grow 

 certain things. He is asked what kind of fertilizers to use for a special 

 crop and in what proportions they should be mixed; how and when to cul- 

 tivate and to plant and to harvest and a host of questions of like character. 

 It is all right to ask these questions, perhaps, but the inquirer must, after 

 all, work out his own problems according to his peculiar conditions. My 

 apple orchard responds but little to applications of potash, but that may 

 not be true of your orchard. There are general principles bearing upon 

 orchard practice which may be given, but the application of those prin- 

 ciples must ultimately rest with the man who can study the local condi- 



