'HAT a sorry time some 

 of the experiment sta- 

 tions appear to be hav- 

 ing in getting up their bulletins ! 

 Some of the bulletins are posi- 

 tively repulsive because of the entire lack of all at- 

 tractive mechanical features. Talk as much as we 

 will about the importance of truth unadorned, it is 

 still true that the public wants even this precious 

 commodity dressed out in a stylish suit. It has 

 lately been said that the bulletins lack good editorial 

 features, and it is the most pertinent criticism which 

 has yet been made upon station work. Poor paper, 

 poor press-work, poor type, jack-knife illustrations, 

 absence of method, and grammatical and rhetorical 

 gymnastics, cannot make a good bulletin, no matter 

 how valuable the facts may be. Numbers of the 

 bulletins have little method, and are not attractively 

 written. A bulletin before us announces upon its 

 first page that the subject is to be discussed in four 

 divisions, but one of the divisions cannot be found 

 in the text, while an extra one is added. And it is 

 almost the exception to find a bulletin in which the 

 arrangement of head lines and divisions is logical 

 and perspicuous. 



But what shall we say of the composition ! We 

 had intended to make a collection of the uncon- 

 scious inaccuracies, obscurities and absurdities of 

 expression, but the task is too great even for the 

 scissors and paste-pot. " I advise those whose trees 

 are suffering," writes one, " to dig holes by the side 

 of them, fertilize them and, after several weeks, 

 transplant in these holes, cutting them back 

 severely." We should be pleased to receive a sam- 

 ple hole, cut back as directed ! 



Then there are the interminable tables, which 

 bristle with figures and which are seldom read. A 

 concise, condensed and perspicuous table is always 

 useful but it is not often found. Writers seem to 

 forget, or never to have known, that tables should 

 present conclusions, that they are not the proper 

 vehicles in which to record popular observations. 

 Or if it should happen that certain extended matter 

 is best stated in tables, then a short and direct sum- 

 mary or conclusion should follow. A farmer wants 

 to plant a vineyard, and he sends for grape bulle- 

 tins. He finds the merits of varieties expressed in 

 tabular form with no summaries. He finds that 



one is "late and firm," another "best when trained 

 on an arbor," another "specially good for post 

 training," another "very good when well grown," 

 another "a partial failure this year," and so on. 

 He throws his bulletius aside and goes over to ask 

 neighbor Jones, who never saw a bulletin and never 

 heard of an experiment station, what kind of grapes 

 to plant ! 



* * 

 * 



WHY not have horticultural institutes ? There 

 is no reason why institute work should not 

 be profited by division of labor, especially 

 as most fruit or truck-growing regions possess com- 

 paratively few interests of a general agricultural 

 character. A horticultured institute in an horti- 

 cultural country, a dairy institute in a dairy 

 community, a grain-growers' institute in a grain- 

 growing territory should accomplish more than 

 mixed institutes. With the greater activity and 

 specialization in agricultural pursuits conies a 

 greater demand for exact teaching. So we are look- 

 ing for more special institutes, more "special 

 courses" in this universal farmers' college. The 

 instructors must be the best specialists that can be 

 obtained. Money and energy judiciously spent in 

 institute work always pay a large dividend. 



The first state horticultural institute yet held, so 

 far as we know, convened at Oswego, New York, 

 last spring. It was in every way a success, not- 

 withstanding the fact that the horticultural interests 

 of the section are comparatively new. Two gen- 

 eral institutes held shortly before in the same city 

 had indicated what the growers could expect in the 

 way of instruction. The success of this first en- 

 deavor was so marked that other horticultural insti- 

 tutes will be held in the Empire State during the 

 coming winter. Let other states follow. 



* 



ONE of the most urgent needs of the fruit grower 

 and vegetable gardener at present is organi- 

 zation. There are several vital interests which 

 demand union of action. Study of markets and 

 transportation for the purpose of making a judicious 

 distribution of products and to lessen cost of car- 

 riage, must demand first attention. It is only 

 through united action that insects and fungous pests 

 can be overcome, and that legislation can be influ- 

 enced in a proper way. 



