October 9, 1S95.] 



Garden and Forest. 



401 



GARDEN AND FOREST, 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SHCOND-CI-ASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER g, 1895. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGH. 



Editorial Article : — Ao;ricullural Experiment Stations 401 



Observations In Califoi nia Forests Cluirles H<nvard Shinn. 402 



Foreign Correspondence; — London Letter. . , W, Watson. 403 



New or LiTri.E-KNowN Plants: — Rhus Michauxii. (Witli figure.) C S. S. 404 



Plant Notes ; — Tlie Viburnums 404 



Cultural Depart.ment: — Late-blooming Hardy Herbaceous Plants. — H. 



J. IVoodivard Manning. 406 



Notes from the Washington Botanic Gardens G. W. O. 407 



Cannas U'illiajn Scott. 407 



Forcing-house Notes G. HaroU 'Powell. 407 



Marantas U'Uliam Scott. 407 



Ipomcea imperialis y. N. Gera7-d. 40S 



The Gulden Pocklington Grape E. P. Powell. 40S 



Correspondence : — The Palm-houses at Wasliington G. IV. O. 408 



Lalte Reuka Vineyards L- J. I 'a nee. 408 



Septeinlier Wild Flowers Dorcas E. Collins. 409 



R ECEN t Publications 409 



Notes 410 



Illustration : — Rhus Michau.xii, Fig. 55 405 



Agricultural Experiment Stations. 



THE first of the Fanners' Bulletins issued from the 

 Office of Experiment Stations after it had been estab- 

 lished at Washington was entitled, "The What and Why of 

 Agricultural Experiment Stations." Tliis publication has 

 been out of print for some time, and Bulletin No. 26, which 

 has just been issued, is intended to supply its place and 

 give a brief summary of the objects of the stations in the 

 United States and their work as it is now conducted. Of 

 course, in a pamplilet of sixteen pages it is difficult to pre- 

 sent with any clearness anything more than the leading 

 features of the system, but the work Iras been well done, 

 and any careful reader of this bulletin can not only interpret 

 correctly the general purposes for which the stations were 

 established, but he can appreciate to some extent the mag- 

 nitude of the enterprise and its prospective value. 



These stations cost annually a million dollars, three- 

 fourths of which amount comes from the national treasury, 

 and yet this large sum involves the use of but thirty cents 

 for every thousand dollars' worth of the agricultural pro- 

 duction of the country. More than 550 persons are engaged 

 in this work, and last year a total of 4,500,000 copies of 

 more than 450 different publications were distributed. 

 There is some disposition, especially in the daily papers of 

 our large cities, to criticise the work done at these experi- 

 ment stations, but when it is remembered that the first one 

 in the world was established less than fifty years ago ; 

 that the first one in this country was established only 

 twenty years ago, and that stations are now in operation 

 in every one of our states and territories, it is remarkable 

 that so many of them are effectively manned and that they 

 have already settled down upon lines of work which 

 promise to be most broadly useful. They serve as bureaus 

 of information to which farmers can turn for advice on 

 matters of practical interest in their calling. They have 

 helped to introduce improved processes, new crops, new 

 varieties of live stock and new agricultural industries. 

 They have been of great assistance in improving the 

 quality and guaranteeing the purity of fertilizers and foods, 

 and they are beginning to do the same work for seeds. 

 They have given important help to the farmer against the 

 attacks of insects and diseases which injure his crops and 



his animals. Best of all, they have held to the primary 

 purpose of making tests and experiments from which to 

 deduce scientific principles to be used as the basis of agri- 

 cultural practice. 



It is in the strict line of scientific research that these sta- 

 tions will ultimately do their best work, but it is just here 

 where it seems obscure and absurd to so-called practical 

 men. The experiment station is not a model farm or a 

 money-making farm, but a field of investigation. The 

 ordinary field-work here is not to raise crops, but to 

 ascertain principles, and the successful farmer who sees 

 in this work wide departures from what he considers 

 the best practice too often concludes that the man of 

 science is a dreamer, without any vital connection vi'ith 

 the every-day busy world. But the fact is that tire apparent 

 failures in the field-work are quite as important as the ap- 

 parent successes in furnishing data for comparison and 

 study. These labors in the experiment stations are well 

 compared in this bulletin to those of the chemist or the 

 microscopist, or the electrician, whom many large manu- 

 facturing establishments find it profitable to keep constantly 

 employed. These men of science ruin much valuable 

 material, they work for months without any apparent 

 result or without bringing a dollar into the treasury of the 

 manufacturer, but they are learning principles, and some 

 day these will lead to the discovery of some process which 

 will give their employer the advantage over his competi- 

 tors and much more than pay for all their labor has cost. 

 Of course, there is always tire risk of failure, but experi- 

 ence has shown that it pays in the arts to employ talents of 

 scientific men. In these stations the Government under- 

 takes to do for the farmer just what the manufacturers are 

 doing for themselves. This work must be judged, just as 

 other expert work is judged, by its final result after years of 

 experience. 



But while the work in the stations cannot be too rigidly 

 scientific, it is to be noted that according to the law the 

 bulletins are to be printed for the farmers. It is worth say- 

 ing, that sometimes these bulletins contain scientific discus- 

 sions, local floras and other matters which more properly 

 belong to the journals of learned societies. It is bewilder- 

 ing and discouraging for a farmer to receive a bulletin 

 which is beyond his comprehension, or treats of subjects 

 only remotely related to his calling, and, therefore, it should 

 be the aim of the stations to publish for circulation among 

 farmers and fruit-growers onl)^ such matter as has direct 

 agricultural and horticultui'al value. 



We have also observed that experimenters sometimes 

 publish their field-notes instead of results and generaliza- 

 tions fronr their work. Of course, when horticulturists 

 make tests of varieties and do similar work, it is necessary 

 that they should take accurate notes from day to day. But 

 these notes are for their own study and not for the public. 

 The farmer or gardener wants general conclusions plainly 

 set forth, and not tables which must be studied long before 

 they mean anything. Now and then an experimenter 

 imagines that columns of figures and statistics are satisfac- 

 tory scientific work. Of course, the experimenter needs 

 such figures for his own study, but what is of real value in 

 his work is expressed in his final judgment, based on all 

 the data he has collected. It is usually a mistake to publish 

 these figures in detail. They are for the experimenter alone, 

 and after all they are usually but a part of what he has 

 gleaned from a long and intimate acquaintance with his 

 subject, and he must be familiar with all its phases to give 

 the highest value to his final generalizations. 



It is not our present purpose, however, to criticise the 

 conduct of the stations, but rather to invite attention to this 

 bulletin, and to suggest to all persons who feel the need of 

 special information on any points in horticultural or agri- 

 cultural practice to apply to the station in their respective 

 states. It is the privilege of the people to present their 

 own experience and ask for direct, personal aid ; and such 

 interchange establishes a living connection between the 

 farms and gardens of the country and the institutions 



