12 State Board of Agriculture, &g., 



cultural Experiment Station comes in to supplement the 

 labor of the farmer and to determine the value of those 

 theories and facts which pi'omise great advantage to his 

 profession. 



The great industry of the State, dairy husbandry, cannot 

 indeed be carried on, on a lai-ge scale, at an experiment sta- 

 tion, but facts of vast importance can be determined there. 

 Among such would be the temperature at which cream can 

 be raised with the best results ; the causes of the decompo- 

 sition of butter and effectual means for preventing decom- 

 position, with many of like character ot prime importance 

 to the butter maker. The cheese maker will be interested 

 in ifbe causes of the coagulation of milk and the best means 

 of producing this coagulation ; the changes that take place 

 in the curing of cheese, and the means of hastening or 

 retarding this change. 



So questions will arise in every branch of agricultural 

 pursuit ; in grass raising, the introduction of new forage 

 plants ; in seeding the land, the genuineness, purity and 

 vitality of seeds ; in stock raising, food rations and the val- 

 ues of food ; in purchasing fertilizers, their actual value. 

 These are but samples of questixDns that may properly come 

 under consideration at an aajricjultural station. To these 

 may properly be added the work of collecting and distrib- 

 uting facts in the progress of agriculture, whether obtained 

 from the Held or from other agricultural stations. 



With only fragments of time left over from a busy calling 

 for such work and with a financial basis which pledges no 

 expense to the Board or State, the results of the first few 



