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A WORD j ,,, 
 
 IN BEHAiP OP ^..-; «■ 
 
 EXPERIMENT STATIONS 
 
 At OUR 
 
 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 
 
 REMARKS MADE BEFORE THE 
 
 eRICUI,TXJRE OE THE HOUSE OE R 
 
 AT WASHINGTON, JAN. 28TH, 1886, 
 
 JiOMMITTEE ON AGRICUI(TURE OE THE HOUSE OE REPRESENTATIVES 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS, LL.D., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF CORNET,!, UNIVERSITY. 
 
 ithaca, n. y., 
 
 Andrus & Church, 
 
 1886. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001006885 
 
REMARKS 
 
 OF PRJ^SW^Ift ADAMS BEFORE TttE COMMITTEE OH 
 AGRICULTURE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
 TIVES, AT WASHINGTON, IN RELATION TO THE 
 BILL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF EXPERIMENT 
 STATIONS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : 
 
 As I listened to Mr. Willetts I could not but hope that he 
 would occupy not only the time allotted to him, but also the time 
 allotted to me. He has, however, not gratified that hope, and 
 therefore I shall venture to say a few words. Simply on one or t*o 
 points he has not touched upon. 
 
 Before entering upon any discussion of those particular ques- 
 tions, however, with which I intend to deal, I wish to make- one 
 or two preliminary observations. 
 
 I suppose that everybody has observed, and We shall all have to 
 admit, that there is in the country more or less of dissatisfaction 
 with the way in which the agricultural colleges have met the ex- 
 pectation that was formed concerning them when the Morrill 
 grant of 1862 was made. While I do not think this dissatisfaction 
 is generally well grounded, I am inclined to believe that there are 
 certain inherent difficulties in the way of the schools of agriculture 
 that have not thus far been fully and frankly met. Two difi5cul»- 
 ties, more or less serious, have seemed to stand in the way of suc- 
 cess, even with those institutions that' are planted upon a firm 
 financial basis. 
 
 In the first place, it is found that the farmer boys are not able, 
 as a rule, to spend a sufficient time at college to enable them to 
 gain a complete agricultural education. They are very generally 
 occupied on the farm in such a v/ay that their absence is found to 
 bs a very serious inconvenience ; and therefore either the course 
 
 t 
 
of instruction must be very elementary, or the college must do 
 without the support of any very great number of students. 
 
 Then a second difficulty presents itself If a farmer's boy takes 
 a course of somewhat prolonged instruction, he is more or less 
 apt to acquire a taste for other pursuits, and so allows himself to 
 be drawn off into other vocations. The consequence of these two 
 sources of difficulty has been to create a very considerable doubt 
 in the public mind whether the agricultural colleges were meeting 
 the want that was intended to be supplied when the grant was 
 made. 
 
 Now it is worthy of note that the nature of these difiSculties does 
 not depend at all upon the quality of instruction given in the col- 
 leges. The fault, therefore, I think, cannot fairly be said to be 
 with the colleges themselves. The same embarrassments have 
 been felt elsewhere in the world, though probably to a more limited 
 extent. In Germany, in France, indeed everywhere on the con- 
 tinent of Europe, scientific farming is a more absolute necessity 
 than it is fell to be in this country; and therefore soinething like 
 scientific training is regarded as quite indispensable. But even 
 in those countries, until other means than those of instruction to 
 students were devised for bringing the results of scientific instruc- 
 tion to the knowledge of farmers, the agricultural colleges failed 
 to accomplish the good that has since been the result of their 
 efforts. It was found that if the farmers, and the sons of farmers, 
 could not spend time to go to the agricultural colleges, then the 
 agricultural colleges must devise some means of going to the 
 farmers. When they discovered that the mountain would not 
 come to Mohammed, they contrived a means by which Mohammed 
 could go to the mountain. This was the object of the experiment 
 stations in Germany and in other parrs of Europe. It was known 
 that at every efficient agricultural college experiments were carried 
 on, a knowledge of which would be of vast benefit to the farming 
 community, if the results of those experiments could be published 
 and placed before the farmers at their own homes. In this way it 
 was that, in Germany especially, and in a less measure in all the 
 other countries of Europe, the difficulties we have experienced 
 
were met with and overcome. In providing, tlierefore, the means 
 for establishing experiment stations and publishing the reports of 
 experiments made, Congress will simply be doipg what the ex- 
 perience of the world teaches to be an absolute necessity, if we 
 would reap the full benefit to be received from our agricultural 
 colleges. 
 
 Now, after this preliminary statement, I shall endeavor to answer 
 one or two questions that will inevitably be asked. " What can 
 you do for the farmers with this grant"? is a question that will be 
 very generally asked, and it is well that it should be answered. I 
 cannot do better in the way of reply than to give two or three 
 illustrations ; and I d-o so by selecting from the last report of the 
 experiment station at Cornell University. I take the first two 
 experiments because, in the first place, as I think you will see, they 
 teach a practical lesson to every farmer; and, in the second place, 
 because they are experiments that could not possibly be conducted 
 at a station not supplied with a very considerable outfit in advance. 
 
 When Cornell University was established, there was given to it, 
 as the home of .the agricultural department, a farm of about 250 
 acres — a farm which, like many others in the older portions of our 
 country, was very much worn and had become very sterile. For 
 some years strenuous efforts were made, by the purchase of artifi- 
 cial fertilizers and the hauling of manures from the village, to irn- 
 prove its condition. The results were not very satisfactory. At 
 length the Professor of Agriculture determined to conduct a series 
 of careful experiments with the view of ascertaining whether the 
 products of barnyards could not be made much more efficient in 
 the enriching of the farm than ordinarily they had been. It is well 
 known that when manures are exposed to the rain the soluble 
 parts are very largely washed out. When it is thrown into heaps 
 and neglected it becomes fire-fanged, and the ammonia and other 
 volatile parts are thrown oif into the air and lost. The Professor 
 of Agriculture determined to enclose a yard and cover it to receive 
 all of the manure made by some forty-five head of stock. The 
 cattle were allowed to tramp it down ; and provision was made, 
 by spreading it over the yard, to prevent its deterioration from 
 
_ 4 — 
 
 heating. In the Spring experiments were made for the purpose 
 of ascertaining the results. It was found that the total amount 
 accumulated was 466 tons, and that by analysis the nitrogen, 
 phosphoric acid, and potash, estimated at the ordinary commer- 
 cial values of these materials as represented in the commercial fer- 
 tilizers offered for sale, amounted to no less than $1,682.00. That 
 is to say, it would have cost #1,682.00 to have purchased the same 
 quantity of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash of about the 
 same degree of assimilability in commercial fertilizers. The ex- 
 periment was continued the next year with similar results. It 
 cannot, of course, be claimed that the crops of the farm were at 
 once increased to so large an extent as to yield a return equal to 
 the estimated values of these manures ; but, nevertheless, it is 
 definitely shown that the lands upon which manures so made have 
 been applied have steadily increased in fertility until the crops now 
 produced are more than twice as great as the crops produced upon 
 adjacent lands treated with manures made in the old style. 
 
 It deserves, perhaps, to be said that this experiment is one that 
 teaches its lesson to every farmer in the land. It would be easy 
 to show by the simplest mathematical computation that it would 
 not be a difficult task for the farmers of every county in the State 
 of New York to increase the annual value of their products by far 
 more than the whole amount of the annual appropriation which 
 this bill proposes to give to each State. 
 
 Take the second experiment of this same report. An effort 
 was made scientifically to determine the quantity and value of 
 manures made by milch cows. The food consumed by three 
 cows was carefully measured, and an estimate at its market value 
 was put upon it. It was found that food for three days, consist- 
 ing of clover hay, cornstalks, cotton seed meal, corn meal, and 
 malt sprouts, amounted in cost, to #2.09. It was found by analy- 
 sis, furthermore, that the manure produced by these animals 
 during the same period had a value of #1.51 ; that is to say, the 
 amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and other fertilizing 
 ingredients contained in this manure would have cost $1.51 if 
 purchased in the form of the cheapest commercial fertilizer of the 
 
— 5 — 
 
 market. While the food cost $2.09, the manure was worth I1.51 
 at the market price. 
 
 Here, too, is an indication of a practical result, that could be 
 made use of by every farmer in our land. It was completely de- 
 monstrated that much more than one-half of the cost of food can 
 easily be got back in the manure, if the manure is properly 
 treated. 
 
 Now I will not weary you to give details of further experiments. 
 There were, however, reported in the same pamphlet experiments 
 on "The result of feeding ensilage to young cattle " ; " The effect 
 of sudden changes in the ration on the composition of mea l " ; 
 "A comparison of the productive effect of the same raiion with 
 different breeds of cows"; "The gain of steers on a fattening 
 ration," and a large number of reports upon field experiments, 
 crops, and on the cost of plant food in commercial fertilizers in 
 the State of New York. These titles are perhaps enough to give 
 an idea of the nature of the work done at the experiment station 
 connected with Cornell University. 
 
 Now, you may very well ask why all these experiments cannot 
 be made, and the results published without any further appropri- 
 ation from Congress. The answer is this : The primary idea of 
 the agricultural grant of 1862 was, as Mr. Willetts has said, not' 
 the making of experiments, but the giving of instruction ; and I 
 suppose that I should be safe in aflSrming that there is not an agri- 
 cultural coUege.in the land that does not exhaust all its resources 
 in simply furnishing the means for giving that instruction which 
 wa* thus contemplated. Cornell University is not exceptionally 
 poor, but it has never been able to furnish the needed equipment 
 of an experiment station, much less the means for the publication 
 of the results of such experiments as were carried on. Three re- 
 ports have been made, but these, I am almost ashamed to say, 
 have been published for the most part, at private expense, by sums 
 voluntarily contributed out of the pockets of Trustees and Pro- 
 fessors. It has been, therefore, and without further appropriation 
 it will continue to be, absolutely impossible to make such experi- 
 ments and J)ublish such results as the farmers of the State really 
 need. 
 
— 6 — 
 
 But, it may be asked, cannot we rely upon the States to make 
 the necessary appropriations? The answer must be in the nega- 
 tive. Only a few of the States have made any provision for experi- 
 ment stations. There are peihaps eight or ten stations established 
 by State Legislatures; two of these, if I mistake not, having an 
 existence independent from agricultural colleges. But such sup- 
 port is necessarily precarious and cannot be relied upon for doing 
 all the work that is really needed. Much of the work can well be 
 done by such independent stations; and, therefore, their work 
 is by all means to be encouraged. But as the small college, how- 
 ever excellent the quality of its instruction, cannot do all the work 
 of the great university, so the independent station cannot do the 
 work of the fully equipped agricultural college. There is ample 
 room for both. 
 
 There is another phase of the matter to which I beg very briefly 
 to call your attention; and that is the ease with which the work 
 of experiments can be carried on where an agricultural plant of 
 considerable importance is already in existence. I refer again to 
 Cornell University, the one with which I am especially acquainted. 
 The University has two large barns, one of which would probably 
 be given up to the exclusive use of such a station. It has labora- 
 tories among the most complete in the country forthe prosecution 
 of work in organic and agricultural chemistry. It has fully 
 equipped mechanical shops where a large number of young men 
 are in constant process of training, either as mechanical engineers, 
 or in some one of the branches of the mechanic arts. On the 
 farm of the University there are somq forty-five head of cattle, 
 either thoroughbreds or grade stock, besides from fifteen to twenty 
 horses and a considerable number of sheep and swine. The 
 Veterinary Department makes it easy to observe the pathological 
 conditions of animals in health and disease. The botanical equip- 
 ment of the University is among the best in the country. The 
 Department of Entomology furnishes facilities for the most careful 
 observation of the habits of all kinds of noxious insects. These 
 several departments are in charge of professors who have been 
 selected with great care on account of their attainments ;— and all 
 
of these resources can be made directly available, if this appro- 
 priation is made. 
 
 Then, too, a very great advantage is to be experienced in the 
 possession of a thoroughly equipped library. In its number and 
 variety of agricultural works, perhaps, the library of Cornell Uni- 
 versity is unexcelled in this country. The importance of such a 
 collection of books is in the fact that vast numbers of the experi- 
 ments here carried on have been carried on in other countries, and 
 it will be easy to compare and verify results. In twenty-five years 
 after the first experiment station was established in Germany the 
 number of their published reports amounted to some twenty 
 thousand. The mere list of them covers a hundred and forty-five 
 pages. 
 
 It ought perhaps to be said that experiments are constantly 
 going on with us — and, I suppose, at all the other agricultural 
 colleges in the country — which would be of great value to the 
 farmers of the country if these results could be properly collated 
 and published in a shape for general use. For example : Profes- 
 sor Law has privately established a clinical laboratory for the pur- 
 pose of treating domestic animals. Professor Roberts is constantly 
 carrying on experiments in the use of manures on the farm, and 
 in the use of different kinds of food with the stock at the barns. 
 Professor Caldwell, in a similar manner, is carrying on experiments 
 in the chemistry of soils and of their products. The same may be 
 said of the general nature of the work of Professor Comstock, the 
 Professor of Entomology; and of Professor Prentiss in the Depart- 
 ment of Botany. It is only necessary that these results should be 
 supplemented and organized and co-ordinated and published, in 
 order to be to the agricultural interests of the country, and conse- 
 quently to all the country, of value vastly beyond the amount of 
 the appropriation here contemplated. 
 
 I have already spoken at greater length than I intended ; I will 
 therefore give way to those who are to follow. 
 
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