"Scrub Oal< Waste," the Raw Material, 1905 



Foreword 



WHEN Mr. Ralph Peters became President of the Long Island Railroad, his inspection tours 

 of the Island showed him much to be done, and most forcibly was brought before him the 

 fact that the vast acreage of idle land, especially in Suffolk County (the easterly half of 

 the Island), must be developed for its own sake and for that of its railroad. 



Many thrifty produce farms, dotted here and there in the midst of this wilderness, together with 

 the vast quantity and high quality of vegetables and fruit grown in the section, showed plainly that 

 the land now lying idle, much of it untaxed because it had been burned over so often, could be developed 

 into market gardens, fruit orchards, vmeyards, and dairies. 



As "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," and as practical demonstration is vastly superior 

 to written statements, the President determined to establish Experimental Stations at various points 

 on the Island and give to the public the results of the work; the object being to prove that the unde- 

 veloped territory of Long Island, for years designated as "Scrub Oak Waste" or "Pine Barrens" was 

 maligned, and would, when given the opportunity, produce good crops of high quality. 



The w^ork of this development was given into Mr. FuUerton's hands, and I, being favored beyond 

 most women, have been his "full partner" in the intensely interesting and valuable work. 



It has included the daily records of riot only ordinary farm operations, but details of victory or 

 defeat in the fight with injurious insects and diseases, the quantity of crops gathered, their packing 

 and shipping; the growing of all valuable vegetables native to the temperate zone, as well as many from 

 China, Japan, and the Southern States, never before grown in this latitude; the receiving and entertain- 

 ing of many distinguished "Foreign" guesta as well as the Island neighbors and workers, investigators, 

 and experts in the tilling of the soil. 



It included a daily weather report, made with tested Government thermometers and rain guage, 

 and conducted under Government regulations; together with the photographic record of every step 

 of the work. 



These records have at all times been open to the public and have been inspected by eminent agri- 

 culturists in both National and State employ, editors of many agricultural periodicals, besides laymen 

 in various callings. 



