Feb., 1925] PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 5 



It is our duty to explore this midground. In the absence of state funds for 

 this necessary work, the best that has been possible in the past has been to do 

 two things; (1) To conduct experimental tests of soils and crops in the vicinity 

 of Durham. Many of these have been carried on in the past, and others are 

 still under way; but the conclusions cannot be applied with sufficient certainty 

 to a large fraction of the state. (2) To encourage representative farmers to 

 carry on tests with some degree of supervision. This has been done in the 

 past; but has been only of importance as showing general trends. It has proved 

 impossible to conduct such tests with the necessary degree of accuracy and 

 control of factors involved; and, in fact, experience has shown that it is unsafe 

 to draw conclusions from any experimental work not under expert guidance. 



The solution of our soils problem lies only in carefully plotted and supervised 

 experiments in representative sections of the state. These investigations must 

 be carried on eventually; no program can be complete without them, and their 

 institution has been already too long delayed. 



With regard to the marketing problem we are pleased to report that a start 

 has been made during the year. In co-operation with the Bureau of Agricul- 

 tural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture a survey of 

 production and consumption has been made in Cheshire County. This is one 

 of the first studies of the kind that has been made in New England and the 

 first to be made in New England in partnership with the Federal Government, 

 and is proving a very effective demonstration of a type of work which must be 

 carried on generally throughout this section. The discovery that one town 

 alone is shipping in several thousand bushels of potatoes, while local farmers are 

 shipping out potatoes or while large areas of adaptable land lie nearby awaiting 

 the efficient producer, is a sample of what we may expect to find in such surveys. 

 We must back up our desire to remedy the weaknesses of our present marketing 

 system by investigational work; else here again we may make false steps. 



Similar surveys to that already mentioned should at once be instituted in the 

 other counties; and as soon as such surveys have been completed, determina- 

 tions based upon them should be made as to what can be done to improve the 

 situation. 



With one-half the average New Hampshire farm in woodland, the need for 

 more research work in forestry has long been obvious. The Federal Govern- 

 ment, recognizing this need throughout New England, has during the past year 

 established a Forestry Experiment Station for the Northeastern States at 

 Amherst, Mass. A program of forest experimentation for these states has been 

 mapped out by the Forestry Research Council, which serves as an advisory 

 board to this Station. This program is ari extensive one; and in order to make 

 it successful the co-operation of the agi-icultural experiment stations of the 

 individual states has been requested. New Hampshire cannot afford not to do 

 its share in such an important matter, and provision should be made in the 

 state budget to make this possible. 



The importance with which research work in agriculture in this region is 

 viewed by agencies outside the state has already been indicated in two in- 

 stances, viz., the marketing survey instituted by the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture in Cheshire County and the organization of the Northeastern 



