EDITORIAL. 843 



a1>()ut 40.0(1(1 scj. ft. of lloor spiu-c, :ukI several stables and other huild- 

 iiios. These can l)e readily ada})ted to the needs of thi' station and 

 will save the expense and time of ludlding. General ^Vood estab- 

 lished an industrial school for orphan boys upon this farm, with the 

 plan to make practical instruction in agriculture a prominent feature. 

 About SOU Ijoys were in the school when it was moved into Ha^'ana, 

 and some experimental work with sugar cane had been commenced. 



The station starts out with a li1)eral appropriation of $75,000 a year, 

 and a good prospect for continuance, as there is much interest in the 

 new undertaking. Six departments are planned for: (1) Agriculture, 

 {'2) animal industry, including veterinary science, (3) horticulture, 

 (4) chemistry and soil physics, (5) botany, and (6) plant pathology, 

 including entomology. The agricultural department is the onh' one 

 organized at present. It is in charge of Francisco Cruz, a native 

 Cuban, who is an expert in tol)acco culture and well informed in other 

 lines of agriculture. Mr. Cruz had been at the head of one of the 

 provincial departments of agriculture^, where he had started some 

 promising lines of investigation. 



The new station is spoken of as a central station, in the expectation 

 that it will be the beginning of an experiment station system, the 

 exact nature of which has not yet been determined upon. This ma}" 

 take the form oi l)ranch stations affiliated with the central station, or 

 cooperative work carried out on private farms. 



The field is a virgin one for investigation, and opportunities for use- 

 ful lilies of work present themselves on every hand. Cuba is thought 

 to be one of the l)est cattle countries in the world, having magnificent 

 pastures and abundant forage crops. There are. only a few blooded 

 animals in the island, however, and there is great opportunity for 

 improvement in breeding and management. Dairying as an industry 

 is practicall}" unknown, and there is thought to be a line opportunity 

 for its development. 



In tobacco culture, for ^vhich the island is famous, there is said to 

 have been no systematic work in seed selection, and the methods of 

 tobacco raising now practiced offer many opportunities for improve- 

 ment. Although large quantities of fertilizers are often applied in 

 farming, this is not done in an intelligent manner or with reference to 

 supplying definite elements of plant food, and very little attention is 

 given to other means of conserving or improving soil fertility. 



Practical]}" nothing has been done toAvard the development of agri- 

 cultural education in Cuba as yet. The University of Havana has a 

 department of agriculture, but this is evidently not ver}' active or 

 influential at present. The industrial school formerly located on the 

 site of the station is the or.ly attempt made to start an agricultural 

 school, and as the agricultural feature has now been abandoned, the 

 peo})le are practically without facilities for insti'uction in agriculture. 



The establishment of the experiment station on a liberal basis, and 



