HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURF. 459 
Geneva? It can not possibly refer to teaching, because, while Cor- 
nell has a school of agriculture in which it teaches, Geneva does no 
teaching, and it is simply an experimental station. Whichever horn 
of the dilemma is adopted, the statement can not stand the test of fact. 
Mr. Bow1sz. Now, as to the work you are doing at Cornell in the 
experimental station, what is the nature of that work? 
President ScHurmann. In the experimental station we have men 
engaged on each of the different subjects. We have, for instance, the 
horticultural side represented by Professor Bailey, who has just pub- 
lished his great encyclopedia of hontienlture: and whose investigations 
have given him so high a standing both in this country and in Europe. 
Then, this year we have Doctor Hunt, whom we called from the direct- 
orship of the college in Ohio to our professorship of agronomy. This 
branch has to do with crops from the time the seed is sown until they 
are harvested. Then we have in Professor Wing a man who has long 
been making important investigations in animal husbandry and dairy- 
ing. But Professor Pearson is now our specialist in dairy husbandry, 
and T expect great things from him. We haveas colleague of Professor 
Bailey Professor Craig, who was formerly head horticulturist of the 
Dominion of Canada. 
For botany in its application to agriculture we have Professor Atkin- 
son, who has a high reputation,as an investigator. In entomology we 
have Professors Comstock and Slingeiland. It will be remembered by 
the chairman that when the pear psylla attacked our State a few years 
ago, Professor Slingerland was able to invent a spray that killed the 
insect, and a very distinguished gentleman from Niagara County told 
me that that discovery of Professor Slingerland’s was worth a million 
dollars to his county alone. Then we have in chemistry, as applied to 
the soils, Professor Cavanaugh, who has been doing successful work 
for a number of years and is much in favor as an institute lecturer as 
well as an experimenter. 
Mr. Scorr. Does Cornell have any supervision over this station at 
Geneva? 
President ScuuRMANN. No; that station was established by the State 
of New York before the Federal Government had established this 
work at Cornell. It is absolutely under the control of the State. 
Mr. Scorr. What precaution is taken to prevent any duplication of 
work there? 
President ScourMANN. The common sense of the director and pro- 
fessors is a safeguard, and that I consider a sufficient safeguard in ref- 
erence to all the experiment stations. And since the point is raised I 
will say something more. I do not set myself up as an authority on 
‘science, because I am not; but I know from my experience in dealing 
with scientific men that if you undertake, by a board or a secretary or 
any other civil official, to direct their work, you will take the life and 
the nerve out of it. 
The scientist must be left absolutely free. He will blunder along 
through nine hundred and ninety-nine experiments and finally, on the 
one thousandth, he reaches something that may revolutionize an 
industry. Look at what Babcock did in Wisconsin. What matters 
some duplication? By the instructors and professors we have in 
Cornell there is a constant duplication of work, but it is all the better 
on that account. ; 
Mr. Apams. Is it not true that the value of a great many experi- 
