8 [ ASSEMBLY, No. 98.] 
On March 1 my assistant, Mr. H. H. Wing, arrived, and very soon 
became of very material assistance. He is now imbued with the spirit 
of the work, has become accustomed to the duties of the Station, and 
is a valuable member of the staff. On March 17 Mr. E. 8. Goff ar- 
rived to serve as horticulturist, and has proved a thoughtful, earnest, 
industrious man, whose services derive value through the thoughtful- 
ness and intelligence displayed. On July 1 Mr. S. M. Babcock arrived 
to serve as chemist to the Station. Formerly assistant to Professor 
Caldwell, at Ithaca, he comes highly recommended. His services this 
season have been of a valuable character, and although the laboratory 
was in a very incomplete state until October, yet work has been carried 
on despite inconveniences. On July 4 Mr. Robert Watson came as 
stenographer and confidential clerk. His services have been of a 
valuable character, and add greatly to the facilities of the Station 
work. 
The difficulties which have been met in organizing and equipping 
the Station have been trivial, yet numerous and wearing. ‘There has 
been a necessity for attending to trifling details to an extent detri- 
mental to the thought work and the office work, which are more 
particularly my duties. Work desirable to be done has been postponed 
almost to the extent of deserving censure, yet the data for hereafter 
doing this work has been carefully kept. ‘The expense of fitting and 
putting into condition has been quite large, yet I feel assured that 
there has been little waste. | 
The experimental work has not been neglected in any of-its essen- 
tials, yet even here work which convenience required has frequently 
been postponed through the labor being employed in attending” to 
duties connected with organization. What we have-accomplished this 
report will indicate. It seems proper to express the hope and belief 
that the work of another year, freed from the embarrassments which 
necessarily accompany the establishment of,a new and untried scheme, 
will yield far greater satisfaction both to yourselves and to your 
director, 
Your director must express his belief in the great significance and 
the great value to him of the unanimity of opinion, cordiality of feel- 
ing and deep interest in his work which has been the constant charac- 
teristic of the board of control. All criticism from this source has 
been cheerfully welcomed and even asked for, and it will be the effort 
of the director to continue the work according to the word and the in- 
tention of the orders to which he shall be subject. Your director is 
especially anxious to assume for himself no prerogatives, no privileges 
which the board would have a hesitancy about granting, and his con- 
stant feeling is that the public funds and public property are for the 
entire use of the public and not to be expended for his own convenience. 
He therefore asks that a constant watchfulness be kept by the board 
upon his acts so that inadvertencies may be at once discovered and 
remedied. The board cannot exercise a too close control over the finan- 
cial matters of the Station, for with the best of intentions there is 
always a chance of waste occurring here. The director asks the co-— 
operation of the board in preventing extravagance and in forwarding 
expenditure really needed for the thorough carrying out of the plans 
and duties of the Station. 
