300 STATE BOAED OF AGKICULTUKE. 



operation, and in 1861 graduated its first class. Wliile he hoped tlie College 

 would ultimately supply to every locality in the State a class of educated farm- 

 ers, yet it was but a small proportion of the whole number of farmers that could 

 avail themselves of its instructions. Hence, in order to make the College more 

 widely beneficial to the class for Avhom it Avas especially designed, the State 

 Board of Agriculture and the Faculty of the College had wisely hit upon the 

 plan of holding Farmers' Institutes in different portions of the State. It Avas 

 requiring a good deal of the Faculty to give their vacation to preparing lectures 

 and attending the Institutes, but he believed the farmers would appreciate it 

 and gladly avail themselves of the opportunity tlius afforded for enlarging their 

 knowledge with a view to improvement in their methods of agriculture. 

 Prof. W. J . Beal was called upon, who read the following paper on 



"horticultural experiments." 



It is only a few years since our fathers, and some of us, too, were busily en- 

 gaged in dealing the land of timber, or in breaking up the openings and digging 

 out the grubs. After the stumps were partially decayed and removed, and the 

 brush well subdued, the stones were to be removed and the swamps ditched and 

 cleared out. In connection with this work, buildings were erected, roads built 

 and improved, stock introduced. Some attention was given to orchards and 

 gardens. At first the new, rich soil produced bountifully of the best crops. In 

 many places the soil has begun to show the effect of continued removal of crops, 

 while too little has been restored or left upon the land. 



Close competition, rapid progress in improved machinery and the number and 

 value of our agricultural papers and books, our fairs, granges, and clubs, im- 

 proved schools, better transportation, — these and many other things have brought 

 Avith them more thought in connection Avitli our vrork. 



Our people are inquiring about wliich are the best and most profitable modes 

 of carrying on the various operations of the farm, orchard, and garden. Lately 

 Ave hear a good deal said about experiments. I believe there is no subject more 

 profitable for us to discuss than this on tlie present occasion. 



Much has been expected of the agricultural colleges by Avay of experiment. 



As Mr. Joseph Harris, of Rochester, N. Y., said, the agricultural college 

 was to tell us Avhether or not salt Avas good for manure, the best time to cut 

 hay and the best Avay to feed it, Avhether to chop fodder or to cook it. The 

 colleges Avere to tell us what is the best breed of horses, cows, sheep, and swine. 

 They Avere to tell us Avhether it aa^ouM pay to use this or that commercial manure, 

 and which crop Avas most profitable ; Avhether it was Avheat, barley, oats, rye, 

 corn, peas, beans, potatoes, grass, or roots. And no doubt I could fill many pages 

 Avith questions Avhich have been mentioned by some body as likely some day to 

 be settled by the agricultural colleges. One man giA'cs up in despair because 

 the chemist cannot analyze a j)an of soil from one of his fields and tell him just 

 Avhat and iiow much of any fertilizer to use to produce a given amount of any 

 crop. Others expected us to decide Avhether orchards should be cultivated or 

 left in grass, Avitli manure or mulch, Avhether to set trees and other plants in 

 spring or in the fall, Avhether to plow deep or to plow shallow. We were to 

 decide the causes and remedies for pear blight and the yelloAvs in the peach ; 

 Avhether to plant the tip or the base of a potato, tliose of large or small size ; 

 in brief, all these and hundreds of other questions Avere not only to be decided, 

 but they were to be decided in a short time, — in a year, or a few years at most. 



