STATE HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 247 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Mr. President, I trust this meeting will not adjourn without action being taken 

 looking to the establishment of some definite plan whereby the members of this 

 Society and others may be enabled to receive the benefits to be derived from actual 

 experiments made from time to time by practical horticulturists; that proper plans 

 may be devised and provisions made, whereby not only theoretical but practical 

 horticulture may be promoted in this Slate I refer, of course, to experiment 

 stations and the character of the work to be undertaken and thereby carried on. 

 The efforts heretofore put forth in this direction have been effective for the objects 

 had in view and much has already been accomplished, but there is need of more 

 systematic effort being made and better methods being used to make these stations 

 all that could be wished. 



Upon this general subject I would call attention briefly to the matter of agri- 

 cultural experiment stations as showing what is elsewhere being done in this direc- 

 tion. Prof. S. A. Forbes, at the annual meeting of the Illinois State Horticultural 

 Societ}-, in December, 1884, presented a report to the Society in which he says : 

 "Agriculture has been preeminently esteemed by all civilized nations from the 

 earliest times, because it is recognized as the foundation of wealth and progress. 

 It has also been favored by governments because the art is essentially experimental 

 in nature and practice, and the benefits of the experiments reach the whole people, 

 rather than enrich the individual. As the processes of agriculture become scientific 

 and rational rather than empirical and traditional, the value of experiment and 

 investigation becomes recognized and new knowledge is not only tolerated but is 

 more and more sought for by practical men." 



Keference is made in this report to the valuable investigations made by Boussin. 

 gault, of France, and to those of Justus Liebig and others, of Germany, in the 

 earlier portions of the present century. 



The first agricultural station regularly established in America was in the state of 

 Connecticut in 1875, since which time stations have been established in North 

 Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Wisconsin and California. 



In 1877 the Connecticut station was permanently established in connection with 

 Sheffield school, a department of Yale College, and an annual appropriation of 

 $5,000 made for its support, which was increased to $8,000 per annum in 1882. The 

 most prominent work of the station has been the analysis of commercial fertilizers 

 sold in the state. It is said that very great improvement is attributable to the work 

 of the station. Bulletins are issued from time to time showing the results of experi- 

 ments made in testing seeds, the physical properties of soils, the relative value of 

 foods, etc. 



In North Carolina the experiment station was established in 1877 and about $7,000 

 is annually expended. The work of the station is mainly devoted to fertilizers and 

 soils, but attention is also paid to seeds, feeding-stuffs, waters, rocks, etc. 



In New Jersey the station was founded in 1880, in connection with Rutger's Col- 

 lege, the sum of $11,000 being annually appropriated by the legislature, while the 

 college furnishes the laboratory and other necessary buildings. Most attention has 

 been given to the analysis of fertilizers, but much to feeding and field experiments. 



The New York agricultural station was founded in 1881, a state appropriation 

 being made of $25,000 for land and buildings. 



