10 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, may your stay here be both profitable and pleasant. 

 I assure you the members of the Worcester Agricultural 

 Society appreciate your labors, and the earnestness manifest 

 on every hand for the advancement of the cause which you 

 represent. If you should desire to visit some of our farms, 

 factories, city departments or educational institutions during 

 your stay in our city, we shall be pleased to afford you 

 every facility for doing so. 



The Chairman. There is a question box here, and any 

 gentleman who has a question that he wishes answered by 

 the members of the State Board, or any one present, will 

 please deposit it in the box, and from time to time as 

 opportunity occurs during our sessions the questions will be 

 drawn out and answered as well as they can be by some one 

 in the audience. The secretary, Mr. Sessions, will have 

 charge of the box, and any question handed to him will be 

 placed in it. 



The first topic on our programme has reference to experi- 

 ment stations. They are comparatively new here in New 

 England, and the question arises, What have they done for 

 the farmer? We have with us to-day Prof. G. H. Whitcher, 

 Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Hanover, 

 N. H., who will now speak to us upon this subject. 



WHAT HAVE OUR EXPERIMENT STATIONS DONE FOR THE 



FARMERS P 



BY PROP. G. H. WHITCHER. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen : — I propose to consider 

 the subject of experiment stations under three heads : — 



1. Why do we have experiment stations ? 



2. How shall we measure their value ? 



3. What have they accomplished ? 



In any industry, it matters not what that industry is, 

 there are constantly arising obstacles which stand in the way 

 of perfect success, and it becomes necessary to overcome 

 these obstacles in order that the best results maybe obtained. 

 Take, for example, some of the common industries that we 

 have seen springing up and developing into vast proportions 



