180 EXPEllBIKXT STATION. [Jan. 



DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURE. 



REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



F. A. WAUGII. 



The experimental work in horticulture has been carried for- 

 ward during the past year without change of policy or person- 

 nel, unless we note the fact that Dr. J. K. Shaw is directing a 

 larger part of his time to the study of pomological problems, 

 and a diminishing part to investigations in plant breeding. Spe- 

 cial mention may be made of the beginning of an extended in- 

 vestigation in the interrelations of scion and stock in graftage. 

 It is contemplated that these experiments will cover a period of 

 twenty years or more. They will be conducted in part on land 

 in Amherst leased by the experiment station for this purpose; 

 but certain practical phases of the work will be checked by du- 

 plicate tests made in different parts of the State in co-operation 

 with fruit growers. These problems are of great theoretical 

 interest and greater practical importance, and the present 

 studies are begun in the hope of many valuable results to follow. 



Attention should be drawn at this time to the increasing de- 

 mand for practical experiments in floriculture and market gar- 

 dening. These important industries have been measurably neg- 

 lected in the experimental work of the past, and the men now 

 engaged in these lines of work have repeatedly signified their 

 wish for help and their willingness to co-operate with the exper- 

 iment station in planning and carrying out desirable lines of 

 experiment. Projects for experimental work have already been 

 submitted by the heads of the do]iartments of floriculture and 

 market gardening, and the careful consideration of those proj- 

 ects is herewith uro;ed. 



