46 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Several of the states, amon<,r them, Connecticut, New Jersey, South 

 Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio, established stations by 

 special annual appropriations, of from three to twenty thousand dollars. 



The first three were merely fertilizer stations, but the others, in ad- 

 dition, furnished valuable results in the field of horticulture, stock feed- 

 ing, botany, and in field experiments with fertilizers. 



The passage of the Hatch Bill during the present year, giving to 

 each agricultural college $15,000 annually, to be used in experimental 

 work, has greatly increased the field of usefulness of these institutions, 

 and if the money is properly used, will enable them to be of great assis- 

 tance to the farmers of the country. 



Most of the states having colleges in active operation have organi- 

 zed the station into from five to seven departments, and placed the 

 work of each in charge of the heads of the corresponding departments 

 in the college, thus securing the services of specialists, who are on 

 the ground, and are well informed as to the wants of the state. 



This is of especial importance in the work in agriculture and horticul- 

 ture, as a person unacquainted with the land selected for the work will 

 not be able to lay out his plats in an intelligent manner, and a year or 

 two would be lost in attempting to manage the land, and the crop, be- 

 fore accurate results would be reached. 



The Missouri Agricultural College has established its station upon a 

 plan similar to that employed in many European countries. 



The ofificers and the work have been made distinct from the col- 

 lege proper. Forty acres of land have been set apart for experimental 

 work, new buildings have been erected, new sets of tools and teams 

 purchased, and work commenced. 



While the other stations of the country have been organized from 

 performing experiments in several lines of work, the Missouri Station, 

 patterning after those of Germany, will confine itself to a si^igle line of 

 work. Selecting the corn as one of the most important crops, it has 

 been arranged to carry out an exhaustive study of the corn plant. 



With this much as introductory, let us come to the subject in hand 

 and consider the value of experiment stations to horticulture. Nearly 

 all of the stations of the country have organized with a Director, 

 Agriculturist Horticulturist, Chemist, Botanist, Entomologist, Veteri- 

 narian, Meteorologist, and with a varying number of assistants. 



It will be seen that with the exception ^i the agriculturist and 

 veterinarian, the work of all these will be valuable to the horticulturists 

 of the country. 



