EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT 7 



1882, to March, 1887 not quite five years. Much of his time must have 

 been taken up with executive work incidental to a new institution. Yet 

 the six reports of the Station show much real research material, and much 

 extension work, more needed then than now, that speak well for the initiative 

 and industry of the Director and his small staff. Be it remembered that 

 in these early days there were no laboratories and but scant equipment, 

 with only the small sum of $20,000 annually available for maintenance, 

 salaries and improvements. The Board of Control confessedly did not have 

 clear ideas of the function of the Station, and there were many opponents 

 in the press, and even on the farms, who lost no opportunities to criticise. 



One of the best measures of the man can be foimd in the initial policy 

 of the Station as determined by Dr. Sturtevant. Widely divergent opinions 

 prevailed as to the work of such institutions. Dr. Sturtevant asserted 

 that the fimction of a Station was to " discover, verify and disseminate." 

 He saw clearly from the very first the need of well-established fundamental 

 principles in agriculttire and set his staff at the work of discovering principles. 

 His scientific work on Waushakum Farm had taught him that there were 

 many possible errors in prevailing experimental work, and he at once set 

 about determining their source and the best means of minimizing them. 

 During his stay at the New York Station, in several reports he urged the 

 importance of learning how to experiment, how to interpret results and 

 pointed out errors in certain kinds of experimentation. He believed that 

 the management and responsibility for a station should rest with the Director 

 alone as the only way in which unity and continuity of direction could be 

 secured. Those conversant with experiment stations must see how generally 

 these views of Dr. Sturtevant now prevail and must give him credit for 

 very materially helping to fotmd the splendid system of present-day experi- 

 ment stations. 



These five years at Geneva added greatly to Dr. Stvirtevant's store 

 of knowledge of cultivated plants. During the time he was Director, 

 all the varieties of cultivated esctilents that could be obtained were grown 

 on the grounds of the Station. The early volumes of the reports of this 

 Station are filled with descriptions of varieties of ciiltivated plants grown 

 on the groimds. Now, it is certain that if additions are to be made to the 

 knowledge of the origin of cultivated plants, such additions must come 

 largely from experimental observations of the plants themselves to ascertain 

 the stages through which they have come from the wild to the cultivated 

 form. The remarkable collection of plants grown under Dr. Sturtevant's 



