68 



HORTICULTURE 



January 18, 1908 



and that to attain its Ignoble end 

 regardless of means. 



In its anxiety to grasp everything 

 within sight, it is by no means con- 

 tent with the "purse" only, which the 

 greatest poet of all times character- 

 izes as "trash" and the slave of thous- 

 ands. It goes a step or two farther, 

 considering it good business tactics 

 to reflect upon the name and the 

 honor and to attack the reputation of 

 a rival in business. It never occurs 

 to these fellows that "he who steals 

 my purse steals trash, but he that 

 filches from me my good name robs me 

 of that which not enriches him and 

 makes me poor indeed." 



Honor and justice mean empty 

 sounds to their ears, and business 

 ethics are an unknown quantity to 

 them. They will not at all hesitate 

 to tell you that the design or the 

 decoration put up by Mr. Brown is not 

 worth half the price paid for it. that 

 the work is poor and that Mr. Brown 

 is a foxy fellow anyway, one who will 

 bear watching. On the road they will 

 make it their business to sling dirt in 

 every direction, in the hope of striking 

 some competitor or other, leaving a 

 trail of moral filth behind them that, 

 to the fair minded man, is nauseating 

 in the extreme. 



They will pick up a plant of a rival 

 concern and will pass judgment upon 

 it there and then. In their estima- 

 tion it is a very poor specimen in- 

 deed — the price paid for it being most 

 unreasonable, of course. 



New varieties of carnations lend 

 themselves especially to attacks and 

 to "knock-out blows." and these are 

 often dealt without mercy. 



"Don't touch it," you will hear them 

 say, "it is a cropper, it has a weak 

 constitution, it makes a measly growth, 

 the calyx bursts, the blooms are 

 ragged, the stem is short, and you 

 had better leave it alone" — and all this 

 assault without having the faintest 

 idea of the true merit or faults of the 

 variety in question. 



If it be a batch of lily bulbs going 

 or gone to the bad, as it often hap- 

 pens, here is a splendid opportunity 

 to put in their ghoulish work. As a 

 matter of course, the concern that sup- 

 plied these bulbs is to be blamed for 

 the poor results. The concern in ques- 

 tion, they will tell you, is a back num- 

 ber anyway and is losing prestige 

 and ground every day. In fact, there 

 are all sorts of rumors. Has not some- 

 body told him of somebody somewhere 

 in Missouri or Connecticut who had a 

 similar experience with lily bulbs 

 bought of this very unrelialDle con- 

 cern? 



In fact Mr. So and So had the same 



\ trouble during the past few seasons 



"but now that he has our bulbs, you 



ought to see his lilies — perfect peaches 



and no mistake." 



To be sure, men of this ilk soon 

 show their true colors and, like all 

 scamps, they will sooner or later de- 

 feat their own ends. Nevertheless, the 

 mischief they create has, for the time 

 being at least, a demoralizing effect 

 upon an otherwise clear business hori- 

 zon. 



How to discourage such abomina- 

 ble practices, how to counteract such 

 pernicious influences upon the trade 

 are indeed vital questions that are 

 well worth our while to consider 

 seriously. If It be true, as somebody has 



aptly put It, that "no shady transac- 

 tion can stand the limelight of pub- 

 licity," it may be worthy of our effort 

 to turn on that light in its full force. 



Says Dr. Torrey, the Evangelist: "A 

 business man who says that every 

 other business man is dishonest or a 

 liar is a liar and a thief himself." 



An evil that affects us all alike must 

 not be ignored. A sneak at random, 

 to say the least, is a troublesome crea- 

 ture indeed. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERI- 

 MENT STATION. 



Paper Read by Wm. 1'. Brooks. Director, 



at Massachusetts Confereuce of 



Rural Progress. 



(Continued from /•ttt^e 8bQ) 



Hatch Expereiment Station Estab- 

 lished. 



The Hatch Experiment Station was 

 established under the provisions of an 

 act of Congress applicable to all the 

 states in 18S7. It was named in hon- 

 or of Senator Hatch of Missouri, the 

 author, and chief promoter of the 

 passage of the act bearing his name 

 which provided for national support of 

 agricultural experiment stations. By 

 the provisions of this act the station 

 must be a department of the college, 

 and for this reason the money appro- 

 priated under the Hatch Act could not 

 be placed at the disposal of the exist- 

 ing state station which as has been 

 indicated was an independent institu- 

 tion. It did not seem expedient at 

 that time to make the state station a 

 department of the college and so 

 arose the somewhat anomalous condi- 

 tion — two agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions side by side and practically in 

 the same institution. Of the Hatch 

 Experiment Station. President Henry 

 Hill Goodell was made director, which 

 position he held until his death in 

 1905. I'nder the organization adopted, 

 it was arranged that all the chemical 

 work required in connection with the 

 experiments of the Hatch Station 

 should be done in the State Station, 

 which received for this work the sum 

 of $.5000 annually, which was one- 

 third of the appropriation from the 

 national government. Throughout the 

 period of the existence of the two sta- 

 tions, duplication of work was most 

 carefully avoided and the harmonious 

 relations existing between the two or- 

 ganizations and the members of their 

 staffs were never in any way dis- 

 turbed. 



Two Stations Unite. 



Nevertheless there soon came into 

 existence a feeling that in the interest 

 of economy of administration and 

 work and for the best results the two 

 Ftations should be united. This feel- 

 ing strengthened with the passing 

 years and in 1895 the union was ef- 

 fected by act of Legislature, the com- 

 bined stations taking the name of the 

 younger organization. My part as 

 chronicler of station history makes 

 necessary the mention of but one 

 other change — the readoption of the 

 name .Massachusetts Agricultural in- 

 stead of Hatch. When the latter name 

 was taken, there already existed a 

 Massachusetts station and to avoid 

 confusion some entirely different des- 

 ignation was needed. It was sug- 

 gested tliat it would be a graceful 

 and appropriate act to honor Senator 

 Hatch, the author o£ the bill under 



which the stations were organized, by 

 naming the new Massachusetts station 

 after him. The reason for the name 

 H.itch was never generally under- 

 stood by the public and ludicrous 

 blunders were a frequent occurrence. 

 No other state designated its station 

 "Hatch" though all were equally in- 

 dfelitcd to the Missouri senator The 

 uniform custom throughout the union 

 has been to apply the name of the 

 state to the experiment station; and 

 therefore to bring Massachusetts into 

 line and because the name of the state 

 better characterizes the station the 

 change was provided for by act of r 

 most recent legislature and the last 

 annual report and the last four bulle- 

 tins bear the imprint Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Experiment Station. With 

 the consolidation of the original 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station with the Hatch Experi- 

 ment Station Dr. Charles A. Goess- 

 mann who had been director of the 

 former, was made honorary director 

 of the combined stations. He contin- 

 ued in charge of the chemical fertiliz- 

 er and fertilizer control work until 

 last July when at the age of eighty 

 he retired from active duties and was 

 made expert consulting chemist. The 

 present incumbent after acting in that 

 capacity for a year was made the 

 director early in the year 1906. 



The policy put into practice with 

 the organization of the Hatch Exper- 

 iment Station of subdivision into dis- 

 tinct departments — with one exception 

 under the headship of the professor at 

 the head of the corresponding depart- 

 ment of the college — is still followed. 

 The head of the chemical department 

 of the station is not directly connected 

 with the educational work of the col- 

 lege. It is a question too broad and 

 of too great importance to be entered 

 upon in the limited time at our dis- 

 posal whether in the best interests of 

 station development and usefulness 

 the policy of separate headship for 

 college and station work along leading 

 lines should not be more generally 

 adopted. 



Some of the Results. 



Conscious as all those connected 

 with station work have been and are 

 that the ideals of the past even — to 

 say nothing of the ideals of the pres- 

 ent — have not been reached, a brief 

 statement of some of our more impor- 

 tant results must make it apparent 

 that our work has touched and helped 

 the farming public at many points. A 

 complete summary of the work of the 

 station is out of the question and can- 

 not of course be looked for in an ad- 

 dress of this character. Some state- 

 ment of the results obtained, however, 

 seems desirable and, though aware 

 that injustice either in estimates of 

 importance or through omissions will 

 perhaps be done, is nevertheless pre- 

 sented in all modesty and sincerity. 



Some of the things then that the 

 fanning public owes to the station 

 are: better knowledge of methods of 

 fefding our live stock whether for 

 milk, pork, beef, mutton, veal, or eggs; 

 far more definite information as to the 

 nature and special adaptation of food 

 stuffs: better knowledge of methods of 

 feeding the crops of the field, garden 

 and orchard; more accurate informa- 

 tion as to the nature of manures and 

 fertilizers and the results to be an- 

 ticipated Irom tbelr use under tbe 



