J 89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
669 
Business. 
THE GENEVA EXPERIMENT STATION. 
The Other Side. 
The New York State Experiment Station at Geneva, es¬ 
tablished by an act of the legislature for the purpose “of 
promoting every branch of agriculture by scientific inves¬ 
tigation and experiment,” is on trial to day before the 
great bar of public opinion. Through The Rural New- 
Yorker certain charges and statements condemning the 
station and its work in vigorous, terse English are 
brought to the notice of the farmers of this State, which, if 
true, show a very rotten state of affairs at what ought to 
be one of our most valuable State institutions. Now, if 
these statements are true, if the Director is incompetent, 
if the Board of Control are not doing the work they ought 
to, and are throwing the State’s money away, and if the 
work of the station is of little or no practical value, I feel 
that I voice the sentiments of all New York agriculturists 
when I say, fire out the Director, fire out the Board, and 
fire them out at once. But there is a possibility that the 
station is doing good work, and as The Rural New- 
Yorker invites a free discussion, I respectfully submit 
the following as the result of a very thorough investiga¬ 
tion of the matter. As a farmer and one who is to be 
benefited by the station, naturally I am greatly interested 
in its welfare and desire to know the truth, the whole 
truth and nothing but the truth as to what the station is 
doing. To that end I visited the place, looked carefully 
into the details of Its management, and asked a thousand 
and one questions of the Director and his assistants. I 
have talked with some members of the Board of Control, 
and perused the many bulletins and annual reports issued 
by the Director, so that I consider myself fairly well in¬ 
formed as to the condition of the station at the present 
time. If any of the statements that I make are false, I de¬ 
sire that they should be shown up in a clear light, for I 
may have been misinformed. But I have authority from 
those who ought to know of what they speak, for every¬ 
thing I say. 
“ The State is not getting its money’s worth at Geneva,” 
is a cry that comes up from many a farmer throughout 
the State. Do not the farmers expect too much from an 
experiment station? Do they realize the expense and great 
amount of labor necessary for carrying on a seemingly 
simple experiment, covering perhaps several years? I 
know farmers who say the station is “ no good,” who have 
never seen a bulletin or an annual report. Probably one 
half of the farmers of this State are not aware of the fact 
that there is such a thing as an experiment station, or if 
they have heard of it, they haven’t the least conception as 
to what it is likfe. If the farmers were as anxious to be 
taught as the station is to teach, they could easily get 
their money’s worth from Geneva. The bulletins and 
reports are valuable to every farmer high and low, and can 
be had for the asking, but not one man in teu, and in some 
localities not one man in a hundred cares enough about the 
station to ask for information about its work. “ The sum 
of $10,000 was appropriated for carrying on the experi¬ 
ments with cattle, pigs and poulry,” and the results thus 
far do not balance the expenditure; what has become of 
the money ? A careful examination of the books of the 
station shows that the money was judiciously expended. 
The cost of the animals with which to carry on these ex¬ 
periments was comparatively small, as most of them were 
donated, but the actual expense of conducting the experi¬ 
ments is so great for labor, feed, etc., as to use up the 
money. There is no doubt that the experiments will 
prove very valuable. The poultry experiments, while on 
rather a small scale, are very interesting and valuable to 
poultrymen. 
Mr. Jacobs and other prominent poultrymen who are ac¬ 
quainted with Mr. Wneeler considered him well fitted 
to take charge of these poultry experiments. In fact, one 
man of national prominence in poultry matters pronounced 
him as competent as any other man in the United States 
for the position. Why did not the station procure the best 
poultrymen to be found to take charge of the poultry ex¬ 
periments ? Because the best poultrymen, such as Mr. 
Jacobs and others like him, could not be hired for the same 
salary paid Mr. Wheeler, who attends to the poultry and 
carries on several other experiments at the same time on 
one small salary. Are the poultry experiments valuable ? 
Yes. The Superintendent of the Census considered them 
of such value that he wrote to the station for many facts 
concerning them for use in his report. The experiments 
with poultry at the New York Station are in the lead of 
those in any other State in the country. The experiments 
with pigs, though not complete, are not only interesting, 
but extremely valuable as well to the pork producers of 
the State. As to the statement of H. W. C., on page 533 of 
The Rural, that “we regard the experiments with dif¬ 
ferent breeds of cattle as of little practical value,” I would 
say that this is not the opinion of the leading breeders of 
America. A score of prominent breeders in this and other 
States think most favorably of the experiments and con¬ 
sider them the best and most complete of the kind ever 
carried on by any experiment station in any part of the 
world. The Holstein Friesian, Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey 
and Hclderness Associations all indorsed the plan of the 
experiments, and in many cases the animals were given 
outright to the State by the different associations, so that 
it would seem that the leading breeders of the country 
indorse the experiments and recognize their great value to 
dairymen. The legislature recognized the great practical 
value of the investigation, and appropriated money for a 
barn suitable for the experiment. 
The function of the manure platform does not seem to 
be clearly understood by many farmers. It is well-known 
that over one-half of the fertilizing elements in farm 
manure is lost. Now, if some means could be devised by 
which that manure oould be saved, the farmers of the 
State would grow richer year by year. Dr. Collier be¬ 
lieved that the manure platform into which all solid and 
liquid manure made on the farm was conveyed, would be 
the means of saving what was formerly lost, and recent 
analyses and experiments have proved the wisdom of his 
position. The manure platform has more than paid for 
itself the first year of its operation in the saving of the 
liquid manure that formerly leached away in the soil. If 
the farmers would study this manure platform, and put 
into common practice the lessons it teaches,thereby saving 
the liquid and keeping the solid manure from burning, the 
benefit to them would be incalculable, and if the station 
had done nothing else in the last year, the manure plat¬ 
form alone would have made good returns, for it “gave 
the State its money’s worth, and more, too.” The work 
of the station is not several years behind the practices of 
our best farmers, but up to and abreast of the times in 
every sense of the word. The most modern machinery 
known to our best farmers is in use on the farm, and 
every crop is tilled and cared for in a thorough manner. 
Many of the tools in use are strangers to the best farmers 
in Western New York, and to see them in operation would 
be a revelation to many a farmer who thinks he knows all 
there is to be known about farming. As far as I have 
been able to learn, the farm proper, under the supervision 
of Mr. Emery, produces better crops than those surround¬ 
ing it. 
“The best fruitmen, dairymen and poultrymen, go there 
and find nothing new.” Do they? Well, not always. 
Patrick Barry, than whom there was no better fruitman 
in America, was a member of the Board of Control for 
years, and gave the fruit experiments his careful atten¬ 
tion. Could it be possible that he would advise experi¬ 
ments with fruit, that would be of no value ? One of the 
best known fruitmen in the State told me the other day 
that the experiments with strawoerries were worth thou¬ 
sands of dollars to the fruit interests. We cannot expect 
much from experiments with apples, pears, etc , as yet, 
because most of the trees are not in bearing. Many of the 
best dair>men have lent the station their hearty assistance 
in forwarding the cattle experiments, and no live, wide¬ 
awake dairyman can become thoroughly familiar with the 
cattle experiments without finding something new. Such 
eminent poultrymen as Mr. Jacobs and others find the 
poultry experiments valuaole, and it is generally conceded 
by every one that these experiments at least are worth 
something. The Geneva Station draws a large fund from 
the State, and up to this year a large share of the money 
has been spent in buildings and other improvements in 
real estate. This year the station has $50,000, but 
only $30,000 of it is for the regular work of the station. 
The legislature appropriated $30,000 for the use of tne 
Board of Fertilizer Control, and none of that has been used 
as yet. That Board by virtue of the act establishing it, 
could do nothing until after July 30th, and so of course the 
State has not received its money’s worth, for the money 
has not been spent. Plans and specifications are being 
drawn now for a new laooratory for the use of the Board, 
that will use $10,000, or $13,000 of the appropriation. The 
truth is that the station has used only $3,000 so far this 
year, and the rest of the money is still in the hands of the 
controller. Any one that is at all desirous of finding out 
where all the money went, that the State has given, can 
examine the books of the station and easily ascertain to a 
cent. The Board of Control have seen fit to pay small 
salaries to many of the staff, but they consider tnat they 
have obtained good work from them A young man with 
a good scientific knowledge of his profession, anxious to 
make a name would work hard for a small salary, and do 
as good workpernaps as an older minattwice tne amount. 
The Board of Control does not consider the men “cneap ” 
because it has hired them cheaply. All of the staff are 
doing good work, and probably working just as hard as 
though they were paid twice the salary they now receive. 
There Is no clonbt that the staff should be strengthened, 
and that those now on it should have their salaries 
raised, and I believe it to be the policy of the Board to do 
this. (Italics R.N.-Y's.) 
When the State bought the farm it was one of the poorest 
in Western New York; no amount of cultivation can 
bring the stiff clay into subjection soma seasons, and wny 
the committee pitched on this farm as the site of the ex¬ 
periment station remains a mystery. Tne station has 
Issued bulletins only when it had something to say. In the 
last two years there have oeen only nine otner stations in 
the Union that have issued more pages of bulletins than 
has the New York Station, and it is an open question as 
to the value of the bulletins of the different stations. One 
prominent farmer, who receives bulletins from a score of 
stations, in as many States, says that “ those of New York 
are the most valuable.” Dr. Collier is in perfect har¬ 
mony with the Board of Control, and all the members 
are satisfied that he is the right man for the place, 
and is doing good work. He is responsible to the Board, 
and as the members to a man are satisfied with him and 
his work, his responsibility ceases. I have seen many 
flattering editorial opinions of Dr. Collier and the station 
in a dozen different papers published in Western New 
York, but kind as they are, there is no use in publishing 
them again, as the station is not trying to please the editors, 
but it is trying to educate the farmers for whose benefit it 
was founded and is now conducted. The Board of Control 
is composed chiefly of prominent farmers, and they un¬ 
hesitatingly say that the station is doing good work. Is 
not their judgment of some value ? The station is on trial 
now, and the farmers should be the judges. Let every 
farmer who can possibly do so become tnoroughly ac 
quainted with its work, visit the station in person, and see 
for himself Just what it is doing, and then if the great 
majority of the intelligent farmers of the Empire State say 
that the Director and his staff are not doing valuable work, 
and that the Board of Control is not competent to manage 
the affairs entrusted to them, I say discharge the Director 
and his staff as well as the entire Board of Control, and 
get a new board that is capable of employing good men at 
good salaries, and those that will give us valuable re¬ 
sults. If, on the contrary, the station is doing good 
work, as many believe, let us give those in authority all 
honor for what they have done and are doing. If we can 
get a better Director than Dr. Collier, let us get him. If 
we can get a better Board of Control than we now have, 
let us have them; in fact, I want the State of New York to 
have the most valuable experiment station not in the 
Union only, but in the world, and anything that can be 
suggested to further this end will receive my hearty sup¬ 
port. EDWARD F. DIBBLE. 
Lima, New York. 
Remarks.—The R. N.-Y. is obliged to Mr. Dibble for his 
efforts to secure the facts as stated by the station authori¬ 
ties. He met Dr. Collier and a committee of the Board in 
Rochester and questioned them fully. The above article, 
so far as it may be termed a reply to The R. N.-Y.’s criti¬ 
cism, is made up from statements made by the Board. Dr. 
Collier states that this cannot be called the station’s de¬ 
fense, though he admits that he and other members of the 
Board gave Mr. D. all the facts he called for. The invita¬ 
tion to confer came from a member of the Board, and Mr. 
D. was authorized to quote the Board and Dr. Collier as 
his authorities for all his statements. This explanation is 
made in order to make it clear that our comments are 
directed at the station authorities and not at Mr. Dibble. 
By reference to The R. N.-Y.’s former article on page 
533, the reader will see tnat the five charges distinctly 
made there are for the most part, either dodged or ignored. 
For the sake of convenience let us arrange the statements 
made in this article. 
1. Farmers do not realize the importance of the station. 
3. Mr. Jacobs and other high authorities consider the 
poulty experiments valuable. 
8. Leading breeders and breeders’ associations think the 
dairy experiments of great value—'the most complete of 
their kind ever carried on. 
4. The “ manure platform ” is a great success, and is 
teaching farmers a valuable lesson. 
5. The best tools and methods are employed at the sta¬ 
tion. Any farmer can learn much by going to see them. 
6. The fruit experiments must be of value because Pat¬ 
rick Barry supervised them. 
7. Tne Board of Control do not consider the assistants 
“ cheap.” 
8. Tne station has issued about as many pages of bulle¬ 
tins as any other station. 
Poorly Edited Bulletins. 
1. That the station cannot interest farmers in its work 
and bulletins, proves precisely wnat we have stated, viz.,— 
that there is nooody at the station with editorial ability 
enough to command the attention of the average farmer. 
To illustrate our meaning, take the following quotation 
from Tne Farmers’ Review, of Chicago : 
“Prof. Peter Collier sends us a mass of tables that must 
have run up a big composition bill in tne printing shop; 
but life is too short to simmer down tne data into extracts 
for home use. Tne professor should have added a short 
summary of conclusions, without wmch the oulletin in 
question is muon after the caaracter of a poor picture 
minus an inscription to the effect that ‘this is a horse.’ 
Men of the day on farms want concentrated information, 
and editors of farm papers canuot conveniently spare the 
time necessary to tnrasn out tne wneat from the chaff the 
bulletins contain wituin their bindings. Th.s work 
properly belongs to the experiment stations subsidized by 
the government, to make and publish facts of practical 
value to farmers. A oulletin without a concluding sum¬ 
mary of results in conc se language is damaged fully oue- 
haif in the puolic estimation, it is nard work for a dog to 
drink a tuofnl of water in order to ootaiu the naif ounce 
piece of meat at tne oottom. Farmers, too. prefer to take 
tneir literary nounsnment ‘neat,’ and snonld do fed on 
this principle in tne future.” 
The Truth of the Poultry Experiments. 
3. About those poultry experiments, it is true that when 
the experiments were started many poultrymen expressed 
the opinion that tne idea was a good one. The R. N.-Y. 
noio challenges the station to get Mr. Jacobs or any other 
high authority to state that The R. N.-Y. was not correct 
when it said tnat the results which have cost the station at 
least $3,000 could have been reached for $500. Let tne sta¬ 
tion name the “ man of national prominence.” Here is a 
letter from a man who is regarded as one of the best au¬ 
thorities in the world I “ I do not believe that any chem¬ 
ist living can add much more than is kno .vn unless he well 
understands the characteristics of the breeds of fowls, and 
knows something of their adaptability to climate, their 
disposition under confinement, and the effects of certain 
foods in regulating egg production or flesh forming, for, as 
with cattle, fowls are so bred that some make flesh rapidly 
while others lay, and one who is not an expert will lose 
valuable time in learning about the fowls before he knows 
how to experiment. I cannot very well enumerate the 
difficulties iu the way of one not familiar with poultry, 
and Mr. Wheeler admitted to me that he did not even 
dream of the matters to be looked into. While chemists 
possessing every appliance, and with ample time, are nec¬ 
essary in such experiments as you and 1 desire, yet they 
are not capable of going over all the ground, or of throwing 
light on many points.” 
The Board cannot hire competent poultrymen for Mr. 
Wheeler’s salary? It can. We have authority to state 
that we can secure, for this salary, any one of half a dozen 
men who have made a life study of poultry-keeping. We 
also make the assertion that a student at Cornell last 
winter, made, at his own expense, in a corner of the barn, 
a poultry experiment of more interest and value than any¬ 
thing that has yet been done at Geneva 1 Before we leave 
this subject, let us see about the $10,000 appropriation for 
stock experiments. We are told iu the above article that 
the “expenses for labor, feed, etc.,” have used up the 
