206 BOARD OF AGElCULTUliE. [Pul). Doc 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXPERIMENTS AND 

 STATION WORK. 



[Read and accepted at the Annual Meeting, Jan. 10, I'JOS.] 



The value of the station work is more evident from year 

 to year in its various experiments. Plant diseases are on 

 the increase, caused perhaps in a measure by the modern 

 intense system of culture. Insect pests are rapidly multi- 

 plying, and, as so little is known of the best remedies and 

 the practical methods of application, these are live questions 

 that everv cultivator nmst meet sooner or later, and without 

 the proper training or time for experiment. 



In plants, remedies are needed for the rust on the holly- 

 hock and gladiolus and the rot in iris, etc. ; and there seems 

 to be no department of agriculture that needs improvement 

 more than fruit culture. There are many apple orchards 

 scattered through the State which have been neglected, and 

 might be brought into fruitful condition if properly treated. 

 What better work can the station do than to select a neg- 

 lected orchard in some accessible place, properly prune the 

 trees, spray and fertilize them, as an object lesson to owners 

 and others, and, if possible, bring the culture up to a higher 

 plane ? 



Perhaps the farmer has a valid excuse for not giving more 

 careful attention to his apple crop, when we consider how 

 little control of sales he has, being charged a fixed price per 

 barrel for selling by the commission merchant, without re- 

 gard to the amount received, while to this must be added 

 the freight and city carting. It would seem more just to 

 the farmer to make a percentage commission on sales. 



The farmer who has 100 barrels of apples to send to mar- 

 ket first spends $35 for empty barrels, for which he nexev 



