New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. II 
as have met with us have held their sessions either in the open 
air, Or as was the case on one occasion, under a large tent. This 
fact has placed limitations upon our relations to the public 
and in view of the enlarging responsibilities of the institution 
constitutes a disadvantage that is increasingly evident. There 
are several agricultural organizations in the State that would 
meet with us occasionally and probably some would be glad to 
make our grounds a permanent meeting place. The means are 
few by which we could more effectively bring the public into 
an intelligent touch with our work. This is true not only of 
agriculture but of the educational efforts of the schools to which, 
I believe, this Station will in time come to sustain much closer 
relations.” . 
The Legislature of last winter was asked to appropriate suf- 
. ficient money to build an auditorium but the request was not 
granted. The reasons why, such a structure should find a place 
on the Station grounds still exist and it is gratifying to know 
that your Board is not to cease its endeavors to secure this 
addition to our building equipment. 
The function of the Station— The question of the work the 
Station should undertake to do is an ever recurring one. Theo- 
retically its primary office is to establish facts and principles 
that shall serve as a safe guide for conducting and develop- 
ing agricultural practice. The effort cannot stop with this, 
however. It is equally the duty of such an institution to sug- 
gest new applications of knowledge, verify conclusions in their 
relations to agricultural practice, and disseminate the results 
of its investigations. All this the Station does in some meas- 
ure. It must be confessed, however, that its efforts are not as 
closely confined to its real function as is essential to maximum 
efficiency. This is a time of the strenuous exploitation of agri- 
cultural knowledge and the agricultural public is demanding,—- 
an attitude that has been assiduously cultivated by the leaders 
of agriculture,— that those connected with agricultural institu- 
tions shall be almost constantly acting as popular teachers, 
a service that is undoubtedly productive of great good. ‘The 
experiences of the past year make it clear, however, that because 
of the continuous demands made on the members of the Station 
staff for speaking and exhibition work of an educational char- 
acter, the management of the Station will find it necessary to 
determine just how far the institution shall be allowed to de- 
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