10 [ ASSEMBLY 
the ground floor as a carriage-house and for tool-rooms, and the upper 
story as a storage for hay, rooms for the janitor, etc. To the south of 
this range of buildings just mentioned is the implement barn, 25x41; 
the main barn, 41x55, with an L attachment, 61x32. In this main 
barn a silo has been built. T’o the east of the stable a green-house and 
laboratory have been constructed. The potting-room, 12x18 feet, with 
a laboratory over head, both opening into the glass-house of slightly 
irregular shape, measuring eighteen feet on one side and thirty on the 
other. 
The Station buildings occupy the crest of a hill, and from the 
piazzas and cupola a fine view opens up in every direction. ‘The east 
view, looking over the village of Geneva upon the lake, is particularly 
pleasing. ‘The distance from the center of the village of Geneva to the 
Station is said to be abont one and one-half miles by the road. 
The Station seems to be particularly fortunate in its location, as the 
character of the building and the land areadmirably fitted for its pur- 
poses, and it is by no means inaccessible to the public. Our visitors’ 
register was opened April 1, and to date we have 626 names of visitors 
recorded. 
The theory under.which the direction of the Station is acting is the 
necessity of applying to agricultural research the principles which 
have accomplished so much in the pursuit of science, namely: The 
accurate ascertaining of facts, then the grouping of these facts in order 
to show the laws under which these facts are produced and modified, 
and finally the test or verification. Agricultural experiment also in- 
cludes the adaptation of facts and laws obtained to practical affairs. It 
is only as the laws under which our results are obtained become veri- 
fiable that they become worthy of being esteemed scientific. In experi- 
mental research, however, we must be very careful to distinguish be- 
tween the facts which we obtain, and the theories by which we attempt 
to explain. The first, if rightly apprehended, are absolute knowledge ; 
the latter are subject to change as we progress in knowledge, and re- 
quire at first frequent verification. To obtain information which ap- 
plies to one soil and one climate is something, but if this were all that 
we hoped for it would seem scarcely necessary to be at the expense of 
the fittings required for the combined use of a scientific and practical 
establishment. ‘The just expectation is rather, that our work should 
deal with the laws governing production in husbandry, the determin- 
ing the value of the facts which are under the farmer’s control, and 
the methods under which control may be most assured, and by so doing 
give possession to the world of knowledge which shall;be independent 
of any one soil or any one climate. In the pursuit of this course col- 
lateral information of interest and value, local and otherwise, must 
necessarily be obtained, and will serve to enhance the value of the 
Station to the community. ‘To fulfill this expectation necessitates 
much expenditure of work, even of toil, and of money, but if results 
are obtained, even a tithe of what may be expected, we may say that 
in the establishment of this Station the people of this State have made 
a judicious and economical investment. 
The province of an agricultural experimental station is not so much 
the discovery of new facts as it is the testing of applications and the 
