PLATE CXXXIX. Fig. 1.-Vermont Station, spraying apples. mont Station, spray cart.. Fig. 2.-Ver CXL. Fig. 1.—Virginia Station, administration building. Fig. 2.- CXLI. Fig. 1.-Virginia Station, horticultural building, used by CXLIII. Fig. 1.-Washington Station, Puyallup substation. Fig. Page. 428 436 436 436 440 CXLIV. Fig. 1.-Washington Station, College Hall, used by college 440 446 CXLVII. Fig. 1.—Wisconsin Station, Agricultural Hall, used by col- 446 452 CXLVIII. Fig. 1.-Wisconsin Station, horticultural-physics building, 452 452 452 462 CLII. Fig. 1.—Wyoming Station, farm. Fig. 2.-Wyoming Sta- 462 CLIII. Fig. 1.—Wyoming Station, experimental oat field. Fig. 462 17019-No. 80—2 THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS. GENERAL AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AS RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE STATIONS. The United States, exclusive of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, lies in the north temperate zone, between the twentyfifth and forty-ninth parallels of latitude. Its surface varies in altitude from sea level to 15,000 feet above it, and is so broken up by mountain chains, plains, and valleys, that within its confines every variety of climate from subtropic to arctic and from very moist to arid is found. The range of vegetable production is equally wide. There are comparatively few agricultural products of importance to the world which are not cultivated within its borders, and from an agricultural standpoint the United States is probably more independent of the rest of the world than any other nation. In 1890, the date of the last national census, 8 million men were engaged in agricultural pursuits. There were 4,564,641 farms, each averaging 137 acres in extent, and nearly three-fourths of these farms were owned by the occupants. The work of the country was facilitated by the use of 14 million horses, 14 million oxen, and 2 million mules. There were 51 million head of cattle (16 million of which were milch cows), 44 million sheep, and 51 million swine. The total value of the farms of the United States, including improvements, implements, and machinery, was estimated at 13,770 million dollars. In 1898, the value of the maize crop in the United States was, in round numbers, 552 million dollars; wheat crop, 392 million dollars; cotton, 319 million dollars (1897 crop); hay, 398 million dollars; and the combined value of oats, rye, barley, tobacco, and buckwheat about 330 million dollars. The estimated value of the dairy products of the 'Exclusive of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. 19 country for 1900 has been placed at over 500 million dollars. The annual value of the agricultural products of the United States is estimated to have now reached an aggregate of 3,000 million dollars. For the purpose of showing the more salient features of the different agricultural portions of the United States, with reference to the work required of the agricultural experiment stations, the country may be grouped roughly into six sections: (1) The Northeastern States, extending from Wisconsin eastward to Maine and south to Maryland, where relatively small holdings and diversified farming prevail; (2) the Middle Eastern States, including Kentucky, the Virginias, portions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, which comprise the chief tobacco-growing districts of the Union; (3) the cotton States, extending from North Carolina to Texas, and including Arkansas and Tennessee; (4) the Central and Northern Mississippi Valley and Northwestern States, chiefly devoted to the culture of maize and wheat; (5) the arid and semiarid region lying west of the one hundredth meridian and extending to within 200 or 300 miles of the Pacific Ocean, largely concerned in grazing and irrigation farming; and (6) the Pacific States, devoted to the culture of cereals, fruits, etc. It should be understood that in this classification no hard-and-fast lines can be drawn. All these sections overlap. The classification may be accepted in a general way as indicating the chief farming characteristics of the different sections of the country. NORTHEASTERN STATES. The agricultural soils of these States are in general composed of a more or less thick sheet of glacial débris. They are fairly rich and stable in character, and were originally covered with a dense forest growth. The climate is relatively hot in summer and cold in winter, and is generally suited only to the cultivation of hardy crops, as maize and other cereals, forage plants, roots, grasses, and certain orchard and small fruits. The rainfall is generally abundant throughout the whole region, the annual amount varying from 30 to 50 inches. The agriculture of the New England States in the extreme northeast of this section began more than two hundred and fifty years ago. The crops grown by the first settlers were largely such as they had known in the mother country, the seeds of which they had brought with them. The native maize began to be grown at an early day. The later conversion of New England into a manufacturing center has greatly changed the character of New England agriculture. Intensive farming, as truck gardening and forcing-house operations, has become a profitable industry about the centers of urban population, the density of which from the New Hampshire seacoast to central New Jersey exceeds in recent years that of the most thickly settled portions of Europe. In Vermont and New Hampshire the dairy industry has grown into impor tance. The production in New England of wheat, maize, oats, barley, and other staple crops, except in a small way for home consumption on the farm, is to-day of practically no economic importance. The home supply does not begin to equal the home demand. The tobacco industry is developing in the Connecticut Valley; and along Lake Champlain and in Maine apple culture is coming into considerable importance. Many of the soils of New England have been cultivated for more. than two hundred years. Scientific agriculture is of recent origin, and farming according to the older methods has brought the usual results. On many soils fertilizers are required in relatively large amounts. The cheap virgin soils of the Western States have attracted many farmers away from New England, and the area under cultivation does not increase. The improvement of soils of diminished fertility; the value and use of commercial fertilizers on the farm and in intensive gardening operations; the dairy industry, with its manysided features of cattle breeding, forage growing, stock feeding, and milk, butter, and cheese production; the cultivation and care of orchards; and tobacco growing and curing, are some of the more important problems on which the experiment stations in New England are working. The States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Michigan, Wisconsin, and portions of Ohio have been classed with the New England States on the basis of diversified farming. The farming portions of New York, Pennsylvania, and parts of western New Jersey and Maryland are in a large measure at a considerable elevation above sea level. Exceptionally rich soils make farming operations in these regions generally profitable, and place these States among the most substantial agricultural districts in the Union. The Atlantic coast plain in Delaware, eastern New Jersey, and Maryland has a low contour, and the soil is relatively light in character and of medium productiveness. Favorable climatic conditions have conduced to make this plain one of the most important fruit-growing districts of the eastern United States. The contour of the agriculturally developed portions of Michigan and Wisconsin is devoid of mountains, and the climate is somewhat modified by close proximity to the Great Lakes. Maize and other cereals and hay are the principal crops of the region, and fruit growing and truck farming are very important industries. The dairy industry finds its greatest development in Wisconsin and New York, but is also an industry of great commercial importance in southern Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania constitute the chief wool-growing States of the Union. Hop culture is one of the special crops of New York. Important grape-growing districts are found in western New York, northern Ohio, and western Michigan. Light white wines, |