REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE EXPERI- 

 MENT STATION. 



To the State Board of Agriculture : 



Work in the Experiment Station during the past year has gone forward 

 with efficiency, and in most cases the results are of interest and of real 

 value. The reports of the heads of the departments are herewith submitted. 

 In some cases the results are given somewhat in detail ; in others the details 

 are given in the bulletins which have been issued during the year, or which 

 are soon to appear. All the bulletins for the year are printed in this vol- 

 ume, hence any extended account of the Station work is not necessary in 

 my report. 



The excellence of the method on which our Experiment Station is organ- 

 ized is shown by the large amount of work done. That method is to put an 

 important branch of experiment work in charge of one of the professors, 

 whose long training in his specialty has given him knowledge of what needs 

 to be done, and has taught him the best methods of going at it. This chief 

 of a department plans the experiments in his department, and oversees the 

 carrying them out. He is furnished with such trained assistants as are 

 needed, who attend to the details under his direction. In our Station it has 

 been found that the graduates of our College make the best men to be found 

 for assistants to the heads of departments. Our main difficulty is that we 

 cannot keep them, for their training fits them for responsible positions, and 

 they are soon called to other fields at larger salaries. In several instances 

 during the last two years the Station has lost valuable men in this way. In 

 some cases their loss has been a serious drawback to the success of the year's 

 work. 



Experimentation has been in progress at the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege since the earlier years of its existence, reports of them appearing in the 

 annual volume published by the State Board of Agriculture. After the 

 passage of the Hatch act the Experiment Station was organized under that 

 act, and all experiment work at the College was turned over to the Station. 

 In the twenty-one months since our Station began work under the present 

 organization it has published twenty-one bulletins, nearly all of which con- 

 tain valuable results. Twelve of these have been published since the date 

 of the last report. Material is prepared for several others, containing 

 results of work in 1889. These will soon be issued. The Station bulletins 

 now have a regular circulation of 4,500 copies. New applications for them 

 are coming in by nearly every mail, and it is found necessary to keep the 

 mailing list "set up," so as to add the new names. Of some of the bulletins 



