As many of you knov/,the Department, like Ancient Gaul, has principal and equal- 

 ly ln^j.^rtant parts so far as type of v^ork is concerned: resident teaching. Extension 

 and research. However, thanks to the reorganization plan conceived by Dean Sieling 

 o£ the School of Agriculture and Horticulture, and approved by the 19$k session of 

 the Legislature, these three lines of endeavor within the Department are no longer 

 oompartmentalized divisions which are entities unto themselves. The nevr set-up per- 

 mits a much fuller integration of activities so that the training and experience 

 o£ all personnel may be used tothe fullest in attempting to serve you better. 



At the present time our professional staff is gomposed of seven; Professor 

 Yifilbur Ht Thies who is on full time Extension activities j Dr. Franklin 17^ Southvd.clc 

 and Dr, Vifalter D, li'eeks who devote most of their time to research activities in 

 Amherst; Professor John S, Bailey who carries on small fruit research chiefly, and 

 is stationed at the Cranberry Station in East Vfareham; Professor Oliver Co Roberts 

 whose main job has been teaching but who is currently carrying on fruit marketing 

 research; Professor Almon S. Fish, Jr,, who has full time teaching dutiesjand- the 

 undersigned who attempts to coordinate the work of the Department and thereby theo~ 

 retically spends one-third of his time on teaching, research and Extension, each* 



Our physical plant includes facilities for certain types of chemical and physio- 

 logical research in French Hall, and Fisher Laboratory which serves aa headquarters 

 for the orchard crew, provides cold storage and grading facilities and contains 

 student laboratory rooms. Certain phases of ouriresearch program also are carried 

 •ut in Fisher Laboratory v;inere facilities can hardly be called adequate to meet pre- 

 sent demands, Dxiring the past five years or so campus buildings have deprived us 

 of about 30 acres of our better orchard land. As no replacement is in sight for 

 this lost acreage, considerable of our orchard research is now being done in growers' 

 orchards. More may have to be conducted that way in the futiire providing some of 

 you are willing and have orchards which are adaptable to certain types of research 

 needs. However, we still have about 70 acres of land inside the orchard fence. But, 

 unfortunately, about one-third of it is too low, wet and f rosty for anything but hay. 



The usable SO acres are devoted to the several kinds of fruit as follows: 

 apples 60/2, other tree fruits and nuts 2$%, small fruits 10^, However, I hasten to 

 say that not all of these 50 acres are in bearing or usable fruit plantings no\7 or 

 at any one time. Replacement blocks must be planted before old blocks are pulled 

 out, land on which an orchard soil management study has been made cannot safely be 

 replanted for certain other types of research for several years, and in case of 

 strawberries, an area at least 5 timesthe size of any one year's fruiting bed must 

 be preserved for adequate rotation. Considering that our orchards must also provide 

 facilities where the entomologist and plant pathologist may test new materials, 

 as yet of unknown safety, it is evident that our land facilities are not overly ade- 

 quate, HoTiever, ve shall continue to serve your needs as fully as possible with 

 that which we have to work. 



Of the three types of service which the Department provides the fruit industry, 

 you probably are best acquainted vdth the Extension program vfhich comes to you in 

 the form of meetings and farm visits. Many of you also know that our instruction 

 offerings provide a ivell rounded program for the student virho wishes to specialize in 

 fruit grovidng in the 2-year vocational Stockbridge School of Agriculture and also 

 for the i+-year student ti&io plans to major in Pomology preparing himself either as a 

 future fruitgrovrer or for a career in the field of professional Pomologyo Present 

 enrollment in this field is low here as well as elsev/here. There is every evidence 

 hov/ever that our offerings are still among the best in the country. 



The research program in the Department utilizes about ^0% of the total time of 



