1909.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 13 



During the past year the building formerly used for office 

 and laboratory purposes by the department of vegetable physi- 

 ology and pathology has been put into thorough repair and 

 refitted for use by the department of agriculture, for admin- 

 istrative headquarters and offices. The most important change 

 consists in the provision of fireproof rooms for storage of 

 records, papers and the more valuable files of station and gov- 

 ernment publications. One-quarter of the building has been 

 rebuilt, with the excej^tion of the exterior walls, which were 

 originally of brick, on the lines of the usual vault construction. 

 This part of the building contains three rooms, each about 11 

 by 12 feet in size, two of them provided with wire-glass win- 

 dows and steel shelving, and all with heavy vault doors. In 

 addition to this change the basement floor has been concreted 

 and the ceiling plastered, new floors have been laid throughout 

 the building; new windows have been provided in place of the 

 old on the entire second floor, the walls throughout the build- 

 ing have been refinished, and a number of minor changes and 

 improvements have been made. The cost of these improve- 

 ments, as well as of some much-needed repairs and improve- 

 ments in the chemical laboratory, has been met by the State 

 appropriation of $4,000, made by the last Legislature. 



Station Activities. 



There will be general agi'eement that the objects primarily 

 in view in the establishment of experiment stations were: (1) 

 to provide for the carrying out of experiments whose results 

 should make possible definite and decisive answers to as many 

 as possible of the unsettled questions affecting agricultural 

 practice; (2) to provide an agency which by true research 

 should endeavor to broaden the bounds of human knowledge, 

 especially in the field of the sciences, and particularly in their 

 relations with and application to agriculture; (3) to dissem- 

 inate useful information having a bearing upon agriculture and 

 the welfare of the people, and especially the people of the rural 

 districts; (4) in addition, this station has been charged with 

 the execution of several control laws. Those at present in 

 force relate to the trade in fertilizers, feed stuffs and the 

 apparatus used in making the Babcock test; and provide, 



