14 a EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



familiar with the situation, and especially to those directly in- 

 terested in the use of land, that a candid consideration of the 

 facts stated, and of others which might he presented, leads in- 

 evitahlj to the conclusion that more land should he purchased 

 at the earliest possible moment. 



Demonstration. — There are two rather distinct types of 

 demonstration : the one having for its object teaching a lesson 

 concerning the value of a line of practice, already fully estab- 

 lished as sound, for the purjDose of impressing the farmers in 

 the locality in which it is located with the fact of its importance 

 to them; the other designed to test the validity of results of 

 research or experiment in our own or other stations under vary- 

 ing conditions affecting soil, local climate and economic result 

 upon the farms in different sections of the State. 



Demonstration of the first kind is properly the function of 

 the extension service; that of the second kind is more legiti- 

 mately the work of the experiment station, for it is experimental 

 in nature and will result in broadening the field of knowledge. 

 jSTew and more or less untried methods or modifications of old 

 methods, new crops or varieties, new insecticides and fungi- 

 cides, new fertilizers, or new methods of employing fertilizers, 

 are a few among many subjects which may appropriately be 

 made matters for station demonstration. 



There is one line of experimental demonstration in particular 

 which is urgent, both because of its vital importance in the agri- 

 culture of the State and because the station has been strongly 

 urged to undertake it. I refer to methods of pasture improve- 

 ment. The experiment station has obtained some very striking 

 results in the use of fertilizers. It is important that the extent 

 to which similar results may be anticipated on different types 

 of soil be investigated ; and that the question as to whether 

 pasture improvement by such use of fertilizer or by other 

 methods which are in need of investigation can be made profit- 

 able. The pastures of the State stand in great need of improve- 

 ment. Our live stock ranges over wide areas to obtain, in too 

 many cases, only a scanty subsistence. The production of milk 

 in the State has rapidly fallen off during recent years, no doubt 

 in considerable measure because of the poor condition of our 

 pastures. 



