Report of the Director. 



To the President of the Cornell University: 



Sir. — I have the honor to transmit herewith my fifth annual 

 report, together with those of the treasm^r and of the chiefs of 

 the iseveral divisions into which the expei-itnent station is divided. 



Another year of the experiment station closes with more satis'- 

 factory results than any that have preceded, both as regards the 

 experiments that are carried on from year to year and also those 

 that have given practically conclusive results. 



In all field experiments anything approaching the accuracy 

 which can be secured in the laboratory is impossible, and it has 

 been urged by some that but few valuable field experiments with 

 cereals and grasses could be conducted, but the long painstaking 

 efforts of Sir J. B. Lawes, of England, show conclusively that care 

 and sk'Ul long contkiued in field experiments result in the dis- 

 covery of valuable facts. 



A large number of experiments have been conducted isinoe the 

 organization of the station in 1888, which it has been thought 

 best to repeat in order to eliminate so far as possible by experi- 

 ments on a large n.mnber of plots, extending through many yeai's 

 the many variable conditions which are always present and which 

 are not constant from year to year. Many of the field experi- 

 ments already under way give indications that the facts they reveal 

 will be reliable and of use, although they have been conducted but 

 four or five years. The great mass of work which is necessary to 

 carry on these extended field experiments is fully justified by the 

 present outlook. The field experiments also reveal, year by year, 

 valuable lessons for both teacher and pupil in the College of 

 Agriculture. 



Nothing is so convincing as seeing, so it gives me great pleasure 

 to say to you that the large number of field experiments and 

 investigations have given the finest possible opportunities for 



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