Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/369

Rh and the construction and management of creameries. At least thirty-three stations are studying methods of chemical analysis. Botanical studies occupy more or less of the attention of thirtythree stations; these include investigations in systematic and physiological botany, mycology with special reference to the diseases of plants, the testing of seeds with reference to their vitality and purity, and classification of weeds, and methods for their eradication. Thirty-five work to a greater or less extent in horticulture, testing varieties of vegetables and fruits, and making studies in varietal improvement and synonymy. Nine have begun operations in forestry. Twenty-five investigate injurious insects, with a view to their prevention or destruction. Fifteen give attention to veterinary science. At least four are experimenting in apiculture and three in aviculture. Sugar-making is experimented with at six stations, but the Louisiana Sugar Experiment Station does far more in this direction than any other." Thus it will be seen that the work is quite varied and comprehensive.

The work is progressive and is progressing rapidly. As the workers gain new knowledge and experience they gain new ambition to excel and aid the advancement of their particular branch of science by opening to it a new field for development. This field is a grand one; few have more or more interesting problems to solve or offer more for their solution.

In the fifteen years during which experiment stations have existed in the United States much advancement has been made in the art of agriculture and much money saved to our farmers. While the stations can not claim sole credit for this progress, they can claim a good share of the praise, and can show many broad and useful results of their work. It is next to impossible to enumerate these results, to show their full application, or even to give examples which will do them justice. Still, a few of general applicability may perhaps be cited with interest.

The chief argument raised in favor of the establishment of the first station in Connecticut was the fact that a few analyses of commercial fertilizers, made in the laboratories of the Sheffield Scientific School, had revealed, beyond a doubt, that immense frauds were being perpetrated in their sale upon the farmers of the State. The fact that crops responded so well to a really good fertilizer, and that it could be easily imitated by a worthless article whose uselessness was only made apparent by chemical analysis or crop failure, made these frauds easy and frequent. When the station was established the improvement of existing fertilizers and exposure of frauds was made its first duty. Before buying a fertilizer, any Connecticut farmer could have it analyzed free of charge, and its ingredients in valuable plant-food were thus previously made known. The station itself sent agents around the State and