26 Director's Report of the 



to do this as nearly consecutively as possible. It is easily pos- 

 sible to spoil a month's time for this amount of speaking where 

 only one or two days are used in a week. The above statements 

 are made with a full recognition of the strong sympathy which 

 exists between this station and the institute effort, and of the 

 greatly increased strength and influence this institution has gained 

 from the opportunities which are made possible through the help- 

 ful attitude of the Director of Farm Institutes. 



WORK IN THE SECOND JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 



This work, during the year 1898, was directed chiefly towards 

 the care and production of three crops, potatoes, cucumbers and 

 onions, which are very important ones in Eastern New York. 

 The experiments conducted have involved during 1898 the use of 

 approximately, 20 acres of land located at various points in the 

 Second Judicial Department. It is seldom that experimental work 

 is productive of results more highly and immediately useful than 

 has been the case with those relative to the use of fertilizers on 

 potatoes and of fungicides and insecticides on potatoes and 

 cucumbers. These results as related to potato growing and 

 cucumber blight are fully presented in the Station bulletins and 

 are to some extent reviewed on subsequent pages. Experiments 

 on the prevention of onion smut have been in progress two years 

 and will be continued longer before an attempt is made to formu- 

 late conclusions. Experiments in the production of chestnuts 

 were also begun two years ago, concerning which nothing will be 

 published at present. 



CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT. 



Fertilizer inspection. — In my report for 1897, attention was 

 called to the unsatisfactory condition of the sale and inspection 

 of commercial fertilizers. It was stated that the brands of ferti- 

 lizers have increased to an absurd number without thereby serv- 

 ing any good purpose but rather causing confusion and unneces- 

 sary expense. The situation has grown worse rather than better. 



