Progress of Agricultural Experiments — 1922 



A Report of the Director of the New Hampshire Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station for the Year 1922, Including a 

 Financial Statement for the Fiscal Year Ending 



June 30, 1922. 



The past year has seen the farmer's purchasing power at its lowest ebb 

 since the war. In December, 1921, according to the statisticians of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, the general purchasing power 

 of farm products in terms of other commodities was only 62%. 



The situation in New Hampshire has not been different from that in the 

 rest of the nation. Farmers have found it more and more difficult to balance 

 their expenses with milk checks and other sources of income. Long hours 

 and tedious labor have in all too many cases made both ends meet only at 

 the expense of soil fertility, fences, buildings, etc. There is no denying 

 the fact that farming as a business has shown less and less of the margin of 

 profit. 



At such a time research work assumes, in the eyes of those interested in 

 future agricultural welfare, an aspect of almost desperate importance. Up- 

 on the Experiment Station devolves the responsibility for determining what 

 methods may best decrease the cost of production and so make possible 

 a greater margin of profit. Improvements in seed and breeding stock, con- 

 trol of plant diseases and insect pests, tests of new and old varieties under 

 New Hampshire conditions, the determination of the best combinations of 

 soil and fertilizer, analyses of brands, etc., have a direct bearing on this 

 problem; and the use of information of this type has come to mean almost 

 the difference between success and failure in farming. Through the ex- 

 tension service, as well as through bulletins and newspapers, it is now pos- 

 sible to carry quickly the results of research work at the Experiment Station 

 into practice in the state at large. 



It is unfortunately true, however, that the economic disadvantages under 

 which farmers labor have been growing so fast as to discourage many, as 

 is shown by the 24 per cent, decrease in farms in the last decade. If the 

 aggressive spirit, which is necessary under present conditions to make a 

 success, is thus weakened, it is less likely to be receptive to new methods. 

 It is all the more difficult to make headway when one is working against 

 the current; and it is probably easier to convince a prospering man of prof- 

 itable changes than one who sees his business losing daily. For this reason 

 those who hope to see the agriculture of the state on a better paying basis 

 must pin their faith to a long-time program. The tide is not easily nor quickly 

 stemmed. 



The function of the Experiment Station, therefore, must be not only to 

 supply the necessary ammunition to the field force, but also to look ahead 

 into the future and to join with the Extension Service in shaping a long-time 

 program which will meet the needs of the coming decade. New Hamp- 



