98 
AMEEIOAIT AGEIOULTUEIST. 
[March 
best width for obtaining the straightest combs 
without separators. They can be one-fourth inch 
wider, and Abatable combs be received upon three 
conditions, viz.: if the sections be filled with comb 
foundation (preferably that made on a press) ex¬ 
cepting one-eighth inch at each side, and one- 
fourth inch at the bottom; second, if the hives 
stand level, at least in a direction at right angles 
with the combs; and third, if Black or German 
bees, or at least those having a dash of German 
blood, do the work of filling the comb. 
Fancy Points in Fowls and Cattle. 
A writer in an English journal comes out very 
strongly against fancy points in fowls. Thirty 
years ago, he says, they had abundance of eggs and 
the best of table fowls ; now nothing like equal to 
them, all in consequence of the folly of judges at 
the poultry shows, getting up absurd “ Scales of 
Points,” which the fowls must carry, even to a 
feather, or fail of winning a single prize.—The su¬ 
perb Dorking is turned from a luscious table fowl 
into a dark-plumaged, thick-skinned mongrel, 
scarcely fit to eat. Time was when their colors 
were pure white, or gray, or handsomely mottled 
by various colors. In breeding a purely white face 
the noble full-breasted Black Spanish has dwin¬ 
dled from ten or twelve potiuds in weight to such 
a miserable size and shape as to make it a profit¬ 
less bird, unworthy a place any longer in a good 
poultry yard. The Game fowl has been robbed of 
its fine round full flesh, and given long stilly legs ; 
the Hamburgs are bred down in size and egg-lay¬ 
ing propensity. The greatest production now of 
the formerly grand Brahmas is feathered legs and 
vulture hocks. People do not eat plumage, and 
yet in the Brahma, flesh and size have been sacri¬ 
ficed to a feather.—This reminds us of the ridicu¬ 
lous efforts of a few Western Shorthorn Cattle 
breeders, who endeavored some years ago to make 
a dark deep, red color the criterion of the choicest 
of the breed, totally ignoring pure white or patched 
with red, and the most beautiful of all the colors, a 
rich strawberry roan. Some Jersey breeders at the 
same time strove to make solid colors, with black 
points, tongue, and tail switch, the things to be 
coveted. Happily both parties have been snubbed, 
and a Shorthorn continues to be judged as in the 
origin of fitness for the improvement, by its 
form, capacity for the dairy and shambles ; wdiile 
the butter test now rules among the Jersey breed. 
Four Good Stanchions. 
In figure 1, the latch, e, is one foot long with one 
end fastened by a screw' or bolt. To release the 
animal the end is raised as indicated by dotted 
lines. The latch shown in figure 2 works in the 
same way, only the latch is secured to the upper 
end of the swinging standard, the opposite end 
fitting or falling into the notch cut in the upper 
part of the r.ail, s.—Figure 3 represents the simplest 
form possible, in which a wooden pin, p, secures the 
swinging standard in position. The stanchion 
given in figure 4 is more expensive than the others. 
A piece of iron or even stout wire, is bent in the 
form of the letter U, as at I, the ends being secured 
to each side of the rail by screws or even by nails. 
The animal is released by raising the free end of 
the bent iron. The top of the swinging standard 
projects above the rail about an inch-and-a-half, 
and is made slanting towards the animal so as to 
be self-fastening when moved into its position. 
Agricultural Experiment Stations. 
W. E. STONE. 
Abou., the beginning of this century, an interest 
in all branches of agricultural science began to en¬ 
gage the attention and offer an inviting field to in¬ 
vestigators. The increasing population, and the 
decreased fertility of exhausted soils, indicated to 
thoughtful minds the necessity of inquiiy, and a 
search for remedies; and in successive years 
Priestl}', Lavoisier, Liebig, Boussiugault, Lawes 
and Gilbert, and numerous others, studied agricul¬ 
tural questions in a scientific manner.—In 1851 the 
first Agricultural Experiment Station was founded 
in Saxony by a society of farmers. Its value be¬ 
came so apparent at once that it was recognized by 
the Government, and others soon followed, until 
now there are one hundred and thirty stations in 
Europe, eighty in Germany alone. But with this 
enthusiasm in Europe, progressive Americans were 
long at a stand still, owing chiefly to an essential 
difference in our agricultural system. Our lands 
were broad and fertile. Though some on the east¬ 
ern seaboard were showing loss of power, it was 
easier to draw on virgin soil than to redeem the 
old; and only when the exhausted acres reached 
an important proportion of the whole, did we be¬ 
gin to listen to the claims of agricultural science. 
In 1876 the first Agricultural Experiment Station 
proper, in the United States, was established at the 
Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut, 
after much earnest effort by intelligent farmers, 
by the aid of a small appropriation by the Legisla¬ 
ture, stimulated by a liberal donation from a phi¬ 
lanthropic citizen, and the free tender of college 
laboratories, etc. Its success and usefulness were 
so manifest that larger annual appropriations were 
provided, and the Station, accepting the proffered 
appliances of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale 
College, has now buildings and lands of its own in 
the suburbs of New Haven.—In 1877 North Caro¬ 
lina provided a Station now in operation at Raleigh. 
—In 1880 the New Jersey State Station was started 
in connection with Rutgers’ College, at New Bruns¬ 
wick, near which is the State Experimental Farm. 
—In 1881 the New York Legislature provided for an 
annual appropriation of Twenty Thousand Dollars 
for an Agricultural Experiment Station, which be¬ 
gan work at Geneva in 1882. It is the best equip¬ 
ped one in this country.—In 1882 Ohio founded a 
Station at the State University at Columbus. The 
same year Massachusetts incorporated a Station 
that began work in July, 1883. These comprise the 
public Agricultural Experiment Stations of our 
country. In addition, most of the Agricultural 
Colleges carry on some special line of investigation. 
The only station in the United States supported 
privately and yet conducted on scientific principles, 
is that at Houghton Farm, Orange County, N. Y., 
established in 1876. This briefly is the history 
and present status of organized research in agri¬ 
cultural science in the United States. 
The w'ork so far accomplished has been as good 
as could be expected from Stations meeting and 
surmounting the first obstacles of organization. 
There have been completed a large number of 
chemical analyses of fertilizers, feeding stufifs and 
miscellaneous articles, and seed testing has re¬ 
ceived a good degree of attention. At the New 
Jersey Station feeding experiments have been 
prosecuted, and at Houghton Farm especial atten¬ 
tion has been paid to the corn crop in its relation 
to fertilizers, to the study of agricultural physics, 
and the diseases of fruits.—Much allowance is to 
be made for the youthfulness of our institutions ; 
it has taken Lawes and Gilbert thirty years to col¬ 
lect the valuable data which places theRothamsted 
Station ahead of all others ; and in all work of this 
kind, averages of a large number of experiments 
are sought, rather than isolated trials. In the work 
in progress at our Experiment Stations we are of 
course yet far behind what is being done in Eu¬ 
rope. There, questions are treated in the most 
elaborate and exhaustive manner; year after year 
is devoted to the study of a single subject by the 
most scientific and thorough methods, and from 
every possible point of view. Take the vvork done 
at Rothamsted; observe how accurate and jDains- 
takiug the records, how careful and thorough each 
step, and finally how cautiously the deductions are 
drawn. We have nothing equalling or approaching 
this. Most of our work, thus far, has been super¬ 
ficial and at random; not poor, but quite the con¬ 
trary, and answering the requirements; but the 
time has come for something diflerent, for a step 
upward. It is now a settled fact that we can sup¬ 
port Experiment Stations and appreciate their 
work ; it is therefore so much the more important 
that we raise them up and make their work of the 
highest scientific value. Hitherto their support 
has depended much upon the popular voice, and 
the Directors felt bound to appeal to popular feel¬ 
ings by a kind of work easily comprehended and 
“taking,” but in nine cases out of ten almost de¬ 
void of scientific or economic application, such as 
seed testing and chemical anal 3 'ses—excellent and 
very necessary w'ork so far as it goes. Its effect in 
restraining the cupidity of dealers in fertilizers and 
seeds is of immense value to farmers ; but it dis¬ 
covers few new facts, and contributes very little to 
the science, and will be of-small value after the 
expiration of a single year. True, not all the Sta¬ 
tions confine themselves to such work; the feeding 
experiments at the New Jersey Station, and those 
just instituted in Massachusetts, with the work in 
.agricultural botany in NewYork, are noteworthy ex¬ 
ceptions. But the standards will continue low 
until the people acquire new views. They need a 
certain familiarity with scientific methods, and to 
learn to appreciate the value of a single fact sys¬ 
tematically sought and proved, in comparison with 
a mass of supeiffcial experiments. But there is a 
constant tendency in this direction, and its attain¬ 
ment is simply a matter of time. Meanwhile the 
directors of stations can do much to lead public 
thought by a strict adherence to scientific princi¬ 
ples. Those who bid for popular applause build 
on sand. Time is the test of value; how little of 
the work so far done at American Stations will be 
quoted ten ortweut}' years hence as is that of Lie¬ 
big or Lawes and Gilbert. A private institution 
like Houghton Farm has the advantage over public 
ones in being free from .all outside influence, and 
privileged to take up special kinds of work, re¬ 
quiring years perhaps for their com|)letion, but 
safe in the consciousness that the .annual report is 
not obligatory, and the necessary funds are not de¬ 
pendent upon the degree to which popular senti¬ 
ment is phayed upon. The Rothamsted Station 
