464 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



be ever alert, and ready to change his farm practice to meet the constantly 

 changing conditions. To meet these conditions there is a growing ten- 

 dency among farmers to experiment. These trials are sometimes made 

 by such imperfect methods that the wrong conclusions may be drawn. 

 The first purpose of co-operative experiments is to encourage such trials 

 by methods that are accurate but not complicated — to set each man 

 to working out his own problems, to learn from the experience of others, 

 to bring him in touch with the latest results of experiment station work 

 in order that he may test these results and determine whether they may 

 lead to a more profitable method of farming his land. 



2. The second but equally important object of this work is the dis- 

 covery of new truth, either in determining how wide an application the 

 results of experiment station work have, or in solving problems that 

 from their nature cannot be worked out at the experiment station. Each 

 farmer who reports on an experiment thereby contributes to this increased 

 knowledge of agriculture and has benefited every other farmer in the 

 State. 



These demonstrations and experiments are in ten divisions, each 

 division in charge of a specialist: I. Agronomy, J. L. Stone and G. F. 

 Warren ; II. Plant Selection and Breeding, H. J. Webber ; III. Horti- 

 culture, L. B. Judson ; IV. Entomology, M. V. Slingerland ; V. Animal 

 Husbandry, H. H. Wing; VI. Poultry Husbandry, J. E. Rice; VII. 

 Dairy Industry, R. A. Pearson; VIII. Plant Diseases, H. H. Whetzel; 

 IX. Soils, E. O. Fippin ; X. Experimental Agronomy, T. L. Lyon. 



All correspondence should be addressed to C. H. Tuck, Ithaca, N'. Y., 

 who will take up your problem with the Department concerned. Specify 

 by number the experiments in which you are interested. 



The general plan of work is mutual or co-operative — the farmer to 

 provide land and labor, the expert to give advice and council. In a few 

 cases where seed and materials cannot be readily purchased, they are 

 furnished by the College. The person on whose farm the experiment 

 is made should make reports so that the results may be given to others. 



It will be impossible, of course, to serve everyone. Persons who 

 desire to engage in this work should apply quickly. Full instructions, 

 together with blanks for the making of reports, will be sent to applicants. 

 Let us make 1908 a record breaker for handling practical experiments 

 in the field and barn. 



I. FIELD CROPS. 



By J. L. Stone and E. R. Minns. 

 No. 4. Potatoes. — Test of varieties. Five pounds of each of three 

 selected varieties will be furnished by the College, to be planted on a 

 definite area, and crop weighed. 



