FOURTH AlsTNUAL REPORT 



DIRECTOR OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 

 STATION AT AMHERST, MASS. 



To the Honorable Board of Control. 



Gentlemen : — The past year has been one of marked activity 

 in the history of the Station. The additional appropriation 

 granted by the Legislature of 1886, for finishing and fitting up 

 the chemical laboratory, has rendered it possible to finish the 

 building, according to the design adopted by the Board, and to 

 provide it with a gas machine, a heating apparatus, and such 

 general appliances as are indispens'. . to meet the purpose for 

 which it has been erected. 



A new building has been added to those already existing for 

 experiments in stock feeding. The structure is of wood ; clap- 

 boarded outside and sheathed inside ; fifty-six feet long, twenty- 

 six feet wide, with posts twelve feet high. It is well lighted 

 and ventilated, and contains six separate stalls for cows and 

 two for horses. 



The building for feeding experiments with pigs and sheep 

 has been removed to a more convenient locality for the work 

 carried on under its roof. This change in its position has ren- 

 dered more compact the entire arrangements for keeping the 

 various kinds of farm live-stock for feeding experiments, and 

 will prove ultimately good economy in various directions. 



A covered passage, seven feet wide and thirty feet long, has 

 been built to connect the feed-room and its scales for weigh- 

 ing the daily fodder rations, by rails, with the stalls occupied 

 by the animals on trial. The building, originally intended for 

 heating apparatus and engine, has been enlarged nine feet in 

 length and twelve feet in width, to serve in the near future for 

 the management of the milk-setting apparatus. 



