18 EXPERIMENT STATION. Jan. 



Capital invested in agriculture in 1885 was $216,230,550, 

 and in 1905 it had increased to $288,153,654, or a gain of 33 

 per cent. The value of agricultural products in 1885 was 

 $47,756,000, and in 1905 it was $73,110,000, a gain of 53 

 per cent. 



The experiment station has borne its part in this progres- 

 sive agricultural movement and at slight cost to the State. 

 Its average annual income during this period, including funds 

 from the national -treasury, has been less than one-fifth of a 

 mill for each dollar invested in agriculture in 1885. 



We believe it to be our duty at this time to point out to the 

 people of Massachusetts new ways in which the experiment 

 station can serve them in the years to come. Since the close 

 of the year there have been prepared and brought together 

 from all the departments detailed plans for projects which 

 show new lines of investigation needed for the further advance- 

 ment of agricultural interests. These projects may be grouped 

 for convenience under the heads of crop production, crop pro- 

 tection, animal husbandry and agricultural economics. 



Under crop production there have been proposed plans for 

 systematic plant-breeding, which shall on the one hand de- 

 termine the fundamental principles underlying the development 

 of new varieties, and on the other hand shall result in the 

 selection and introduction of new strains or varieties of staple 

 farm and garden crops especially suited to our climate and 

 soil. In fruit growing there is pointed out the need of more 

 knowledge of cultural requirements in orcharding, owing to 

 the differences in slope and surface of our hillsides, some of 

 which are steep and some rolling, some rocky and some free 

 from rocks. The adaptability of varieties needs consideration, 

 and its study will require a knowledge of weather conditions 

 and soil formation. A little less than one-fifth of the State 

 Jias been surveyed by the Bureau of Soils of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, and it is desirable that this soil 

 survey should be made complete, which must be done at the 

 expense of the State. Judging from the surveys already made 

 in this State and in adjacent States, there are probably be- 

 tween fifty and sixty distinct types of soils composing our 



