12 Director's Report of the 



exercised by the same institution, experience has shown that the same 

 group of men cannot combine, with the largest degree of success, 

 duties so unhke in character as those here enumerated. As a rule 

 the teacher, under the conditions prevailing in the United States, 

 whether in the academic or in the popular field, finds little time for 

 investigation; and neither the investigator nor the teacher should 

 be greatly burdened with duties of an administrative character, be- 

 cause such consume time and are antagonistic to a studious or re- 

 flective state of mind. The present tendency is certainly towards 

 the differentiation of institutions along the line of functions. 



The peculiar function of the experiment station is investigation 

 and experimentation. The New York Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion is organized and managed in a way that is consistent with this 

 function and its work neither duplicates the work of any other state 

 institution nor is it an infringement thereof. It teaches no students, 

 it engages in inspection work only in those lines which seem to re- 

 quire close association with scientific laboratories and with profes- 

 sional knowledge, and it engages in popular instruction at institutes 

 only to the extent necessary to spread a knowledge of its work and 

 results and to place its staflf in touch with the problems that confront 

 farmers. There is in New York an inter-relation between the sta- 

 tion, the college, the Department of Agriculture and the farmers' 

 institutes which is helpful, but which constitutes neither duplication 

 nor interference. The work of the Station is more fertile of useful 

 results because the members of its staff are able to devote themselves 

 with singleness of purpose to the discovery and application of truths 

 that are important to the farmers' art. 



the growth of the station and its support. 



The New York Agricultural Experiment Station was organized 

 over 21 years ago. During this period its activities have become 

 greatly enlarged, with a corresponding increase in income and equip- 



