SUMMER MEETING AT OREGON. 45. 



placed under the charge of Emil Wolf. The value of the work done 

 here soon became appreciated, and stations sprang up all over Europe, 

 until to-day, there are nearly two hundred — Germany alone having over 

 fifty, with one hundred and fifty agricultural colleges, most of which are 

 under government patronage, while others are supported by individuals 

 and agricultural societies. Although some of these European stations 

 engage in a general line of experiments, most of them perform only 

 special work. Many of them arc merely control stations, having in 

 charge the supervision of the fertilizer and seed trade, in which work 

 they save to the farmers of Europe, at a slight expense, millions of 

 dollars annually, by preventing adulteration and securing a guaran- 

 teed quality. Others are forage stations, whose work it is to test the 

 grasses and various forage plants, in order to learn their value on differ- 

 ent soils and in various stations. Experiments with cattle feeding and 

 dairying with fertilizers, and in animal and plant physiology, occupy 

 the attention of others. For several years horticulture as a distinct art, 

 received but little attention at the hands of the investigators. 



Gradually, however, the importance of experiments in the field be- 

 came recognized, and to-day, we have stations devoted to forestry 

 and grape growing, while half a dozen devote their attention to test- 

 ing and experimenting with fruits and vegetables. Most of the experi- 

 ments conducted in this country up to the present time have been 

 carried on at the so-called ' land grant ' or agricultural college. Al- 

 though the principal objects of these institutions, as set forth in the 

 act of congress, which established them, is to teach, yet as it also pro- 

 vides for publishing the results of experiments, we may infer that it was 

 the design of the founders, that they also conduct experiments. 



Many of the colleges, either from their own funds derived from 

 the income of the government grant, or from appropriations of their 

 respective* states, have done much valuable w^ork. 



The Missouri Agricultural College, under its present Dean, has 

 sent out over thirty bulletins, extending over a large field of labor, which 

 perhaps have been more quoted than any other. 



They have, to a considerable extent, shaped the experiments in 

 other states, and have done more to bring Missouri to the notice of the 

 farming public, not only of this country, but of Europe, than anything 

 else. 



The work too ha% been done without the expenditure of a single 

 dollar, either from the college or state, the ordinary receipts of the farm 

 alone being available for this work. 



