108 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



THE EXPERIMENT STATION AND ITS WORK. 

 By D. H. Knowlton, Member of Advisory Board. 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN GENERAL. 



Agricultural experiment stations in this country are of recent date. 

 They ma> be considered as the offspring of our necessities. There 

 are several notable experiment stations, or experimental farms, in 

 Europe, which have covered a large field of observation and study, 

 and to Ihem we are indebted for much of our knowledge of feed 

 properties and values, as well as the crop producing values of 

 manures and cultivation. The conditions of soil and climate in the 

 United States are so different from European localities, that beyond 

 certain scientific data, the conclusions reached had little practical 

 value for the American faimer; for to make many of the results 

 available, they must be interpreted and adapted to our conditions. 

 From the primitive methods still employed by the majority of 

 European farmers, there is doubt whether these stations have really 

 effected any great change in European agriculture, and, as far as any 

 great change has been brought about there, it is more largely due 

 to the importation of the cheaply-produced crops from the United 

 States, South America and Australia. At anj^ rate, the changes in 

 European farm methods have been less rapid than in this country 

 where our farmers so generally read and study the agricultural 

 papers. 



We have no desire to underrate the work of these stations, for 

 they have been of great value, not onl}' to Europe, but to the United 

 States as well, for the results have been largely drawn upon by our 

 agricultural writers and chemists. The data furnished have been of 

 great value, but in order to utilize many of them there was need of 

 experimental work in our own country. In the United States the 

 increasing competition in the production of crops has necessitated 

 many changes in farm methods. The first great question was how 

 to produce crops the most cheaply, involving a knowledge of soils, 

 their cultivation, and the value of manures. The next question is 

 how to dispose of the crops after they are raised. If they are to 

 be marketed, it is a matter of business, but if these crops are to 

 be utilized in the growth and rearing of stock, the demand for an 



