248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



sandy, and loamy soils are generally, though not uniformly, 

 helped by potash fertilizers. 



The teachings of the experiments thus far made in Con- 

 necticut indicate that nitrogen has been most beneficial on 

 the light class of soils. Soluble fertilizers, as nitrate of soda 

 and sulphate of ammonia, have generally been used with profit 

 on light loam soils, but have not proved of much value for 

 corn on heavy soils. For heavy soils it would seem that 

 nitrogen should be supplied in some organic form, as stable 

 manure, dried blood, etc. 



The wide differences found in soils afford a strong argu- 

 ment in favor of home-mixed fertilizers. The special needs 

 of different soils cannot be considered by the manufacturer 

 who prepares his fertilizers for general use. The farmer may, 

 however, prepare such mixtures as will meet both the defi- 

 ciencies of his soil and the requirements of his crops. 



I wanted to say something to you about the results of 

 our co-operative experiments in the feeding of cattle, but I 

 shall have to desist, as I wish to tell you before I close some- 

 thing special about the future work and development of the 

 station. The more experience we have the more are we im- 

 pressed at the station with two facts: one is, that of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of inquiry which our experiment station can 

 carry on, that which is most needed, in the present condition 

 of our experijnent stations, and their development in the 

 United States, and which will be, on the long run, the most 

 useful, is that which consists of the search for and the dis- 

 covery of the laws which underlie the right practice of farm- 

 ing. In this view I think the work which we are doing with 

 the respiration calorimeter is by far the most valuable of all. 

 The other thing that we are coming to see more and more 

 clearly is the need of restricting our inquiries to a compara- 

 tively small number of special lines, and developing those as 

 thoroughly as possible. Accordingly, it has seemed best, 

 both to the board of trustees and the director, that our in- 

 quiries in the line of dairy bacteriology should be more fully 

 developed. 



In the course of the development of the college at Storrs 

 a new dairy building has been put up, and it has a good 

 equipment. Now, then, why should we not use that build- 

 ing? We have got to the point in this inquiry where we can 



