No. 4.] WORK OF COLLEGE AND STATION. 201 



Those upon the gypsy moth, tuberculosis, and the profitable 

 use of commercial fertilizers have been of the latter class. 

 In meeting the expense of publication and distribution of 

 some of these Ave have received assistance from the State 

 Board of Agriculture ; and the Massachusetts Society for 

 the Promotion of Aii'riculture now unites with us in assistino; 

 to circulate thirty thousand copies of a forthcoming l)ulletin 

 upon four of our commonest and most destructive insects, 

 viz., the tent caterpillar, the fall web worm, the tussock 

 moth and the canker worm. 



Two things show conclusively the increasing interest in 

 our work, viz., the growing demand for our bulletins and 

 the increased correspondence of all departments. The ear- 

 lier editions of our bulletins numbered sixty-five hundred ; 

 our later editions number eleven thousand. 



The numl)er of letters received asking for information 

 upon points connected Avith farming has rapidly increased. 

 Especially marked is this increase in the entomological 

 department, the correspondence of which has reached such 

 dimensions as to necessitate the employment of a stenog- 

 rapher. In all departments the correspondence is a consid- 

 erable tax upon the time and energies of those in charge. It 

 is not simply the time required in writing the letters ; many 

 of the questions sent are of a character which necessitate 

 considerable research. We, hoAvever, recognize that the 

 assistance Ave may be able to render the farmers in this way 

 may be considerable, and we gladly welcome, even invite 

 and solicit, such correspondence. 



Time fails me to speak explicitly of all the experiments 

 which have been carried out in the Hatch Station. I shall 

 endeavor only to give a general idea of the equipment of 

 each department for its work, and to call attention to some 

 of the more important results. 



The meteorological department is one of the best-equipped 

 stations in this country. It contains a complete set of Dra- 

 per's self-recording instruments and Thomson's electrograph. 

 By means of these instruments a very complete record of all 

 variations in climatic conditions is secured, and the chief 

 results are published monthly. Professor Warner, who is 

 in charge of this department, has been making a special 



