EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XXI. July, 1900. No. 1. 



The first feeling at the retirement of a man who has long been an 

 active and efficient worker, and has stood high in the counsels of 

 his colleagues, is one of inevitable regret at the loss it suggests. 

 This is especially so in the case of Dr. E. W. Hilgard, who has been 

 so proiiiinently identified with college and station work in agricid- 

 ture since its pioneer days. Assuming the grade of emeritus several 

 years ago, he now retires under the provisions of the Carnegie 

 Foundation at the age of seventy-six, but in full vigor of mind and 

 body. 



While this step marks the official close of a long career of remark- 

 able service to agriculture, it will not be taken b}^ those who know 

 him as terminating his activity. It means a freedom from wearing 

 details, and a larger opportunity for the closing years of life. 



Dr. Hilgard stands out as one of the foremost pioneers in agricul- 

 tural science and in the experiment station movement. He entered 

 that field when the workers could almost be counted on the fingers 

 of one hand, and he brought to it a training which was broad and 

 thorough. His scientific grasp of the problems presented made him 

 effective and resourceful in attacking them. His success in that line 

 helped to make it clear how science could be of service to the practice 

 of agriculture and furnish a basis for its teaching. Among the very 

 first of the experiment station directors in this country, his writings 

 and influence were potent factors in the extension of these institu- 

 tions to other States, and the ultimate establishment of a National 

 system of stations under Federal aid. 



The high quality of his work has given it very great value in 

 constructing a science of agriculture. Its nature has been such that 

 the benefits have not been confined to California, but the whole 

 western empire, and in large measure the entire country has shared. 

 However local an undertaking might be, his studies upon it have 

 been fundamental, and this has lent to the results a National and in 

 many cases a world-wide scope. 



There is much of inspiration in his long and fruitful career, for the 

 younger workers in agricultural science. The standards he set for 

 thoroughness, accuiracy, and scientific deduction are among the great- 

 est assets of his life work. The tangible product of his labors can be 



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