From Dutch Sefflemenfs io the Instifufe 217 



able commercial basis," and refers in this connection to 

 wheat, rye, and barley. He finally states that to the Dutch 

 goes credit also for the early introduction of the best foun- 

 dation stock of horses and cattle. He further mentions the 

 importation of hogs and numerous types of domestic fowl. 



Altogether, I do not think I go too far in concluding 

 that Dutch farming experience, and plants and animals 

 of Dutch stock, have been mainly responsible for laying 

 the foundations on which rests the well deserved fame of 

 New Jersey as the Garden State. 



This digression may find its justification in the fact that 

 it assists in explaining exactly why New Jersey has been 

 such a fertile soil for development of the agricultural 

 sciences. This development can be said to have started in 

 1864 when the State of New Jersey assigned to Rutgers 

 College the responsibilities and benefits of the Land-Grant 

 Act of the Congress of the United States. Rutgers has re- 

 sponded nobly to this assignment. In 1939, Dr. Waksman, 

 in his article entitled "Cook-Voorhees-Lipman: Contribu- 

 tions of Rutgers to Soil Science," paid warm tribute to 

 the eminent scientists who earned a world reputation for 

 the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, the or- 

 ganization through which the Rutgers efforts in this field 

 have been channeled since 1880. Moreover, the attractive 

 booklet that appeared only three years ago on the occasion 

 of the dedication of Lipman Hall testifies in a convincing 

 way to the fundamental contributions to soil science made 

 by Rutgers. 



Suffice it here to mention a few facts that may be deemed 

 to be directly responsible for today's ceremony. We must 

 first go back to the foresight of Dr. Edward B. Voorhees, 

 who as early as 1895 started investigations of soil micro- 

 biology and in 1901 established a separate Department of 

 Soil Chemistry and Bacteriology, the first of its kind in the 

 United States. 



In view of the present-day emphasis on biochemical 



