No. 4.] EXPERIMENT STATION. 253 



available for plant food the phosphates and the potash 

 which by ordinary methods are unavailable. This and the 

 compounding of the different formulas for plant food require 

 the intelligent thought and careful work of the chemist ; and 

 it seems to your committee that the entire work should be 

 under his supervision, and also a special appropriation should 

 be secured, to make such additions as may be necessary to 

 do well the work which is so desirable to be done in this 

 department. 



Much work has been done in testing foods for feeding ani- 

 mals, to ascertain the most desirable plants to be grown, and 

 the combinations which will secure the best results. Careful 

 experiments are now being made to ascertain if cows, by any 

 change in their food, can be made to give milk of a richer 

 quality. As this is a disputed point, the result of this experi- 

 ment will be looked forward to with interest by all dairymen. 



The department which has had under investigation the 

 subject of fungi has done much to help the farmer to protect 

 his trees and plants by spraying with compounds that exper- 

 iments have proved to be best adapted for the work. 



The horticultural department shows continual progress ; 

 from it fruit growers can get reliable information relating 

 to the value of different varieties of fruit, and what trees, 

 shrubs and plants are hardy enough to endure our winters. 

 Some of the work laid out for the coming year is in the 

 direction to furnish an object lesson which will be of interest 

 to all intelligent visitors. 



If any fault is to be found with any person or persons, it 

 is with the farmers of the State, or that portion of them 

 who fail to keep in close touch enough with the station, to 

 realize the importance of the work being done at the station, 

 and thus fail to get that information which they need to in- 

 crease the profits of their farms. Farmers, you cannot 

 afford to be without the information which this station is 

 able to give ; and every year that you try to run your farms 

 without it will increase the distance between you and the. 

 successful farmer, who carefully reads the reports of the 

 Hatch Experiment Station. 



EDMUND HERSEY, 



Chairman. 



