2 EXPEETMEXT STATTOX EEOORD. 



from the swa}* of tradition and superstition to the domain of exact 

 knowledge. During the seventies the work of the farm had become 

 imexpectedly complex, and hindrances unknoAvn to the earlier hus- 

 bandry had increased the hazards attending farm practice. Many 

 sections were suffering seriously from an exhaustion of the soil ; new 

 and unknown insects appeared in great numbers ; noxious weeds mul- 

 tiplied with extreme rapidity, and unfamiliar diseases worked havoc 

 in flocks and herds. The futility of individual experiment and the 

 inadequacy of existing agencies in combating such conditions were 

 in due season appreciated, and led to a demand for the State to cope 

 with the problem. The result was the provision, in 1880, for an 

 agricultural experiment station as a State institution, for the pur- 

 l^ose of '' jDromoting agriculture in its various branches by scientific 

 investigation and experiment," and its actual commencement of work 

 in the spring of 1882. 



Although experiment stations were already in existence in Cali- 

 fornia, Connecticut, New Jerse}', and North Carolina, and agricul- 

 tural experimentation was slowly taking concrete form at a number 

 of the agricultural colleges, the institution at Geneva found itself in 

 many respects a jjioneer. The prevailing model of the time was the 

 German experiment station, in which a characteristic feature was the 

 control work; and in the existing stations the inspection of fertilizers 

 had usualh' been a prominent function from the start. At Geneva, 

 however, such duties were not imposed until 1894, and by. that time a 

 spirit of strict adherence to the Avork of investigation, unhampered by 

 routine analysis, had become well established. 



A second divergence from the prevailing type was as to the form of 

 organization. Instead of affiliation with an existing college or uni- 

 versity as its research department, the institution was established, and 

 has since been maintained, on an entirely independent basis, a circum- 

 stance insuring to its personnel exemption from the exactions of an 

 undue amount of teaching and thereby favorable to concentration of 

 effort. 



A third distinctive feature was the liberal financial support ac- 

 corded it at the outset. Instead of starting with an initial appro- 

 priation of $5,000 a year, as did its predecessors, much of which was 

 of necessity expended for equipment, the Geneva Station received a 

 maintenance appropriation of $20,000 a year, together with $30,000 

 for buildings and grounds, a substantial recognition of its needs and 

 of the service expected of it. This gave it a distinct advantage in 

 planning and organizing its work, and the continuance of this gener- 

 ous support as the needs and activities of the station have grown has 

 been no small factor in its consistent development. To-day its an- 

 nual income aggregates over $90,000, of which but $2,400 is obtained 



