out my associates from presenting whatever thoughts they may have brought here; but in order to get the sense of the convention I move that the discussion of this topic be omitted.

Mr. SCOVELL. As one of the speakers on the question I second the motion.

The PRESIDENT. As the chair understands the situation, it is that the gentlemen assigned to the discussion of the subject, though quite willing to continue the discussion if the Association shall so desire, think the subject has been sufficiently covered already. It is for the Association to say whether it will excuse these gentlemen or not. The motion was agreed to.

[NOTE.—The following paper was prepared by Mr. Myers, of West Virginia, but, as a result of the last motion, not read. -Editors.]

STATION ORGANIZATION AND METHODS.

It was Professor Clifford, I believe, who said "the recognition of our ignorance is the surest way to get rid of it." In treating the subject "Station Organization and Methods," I hope to set in motion a train of discussion which may serve to enlighten us and to call to our attention facts which may be utilized to advantage.

The organization of an experiment station, it seems to me, is similar to the organization of an army. In fact, an experiment station is simply a corps of scientific workers, together with the necessary equipment, organized for a special purpose. A line of policy strictly adhered to and pushed with energy, even though it may not always be the most practical, will generally win. Thus there is a definite and fixed point towards which we may press, and that is one of the conditions of success. It is, I think, of the highest importance that every station should aim at the accomplishment of some definite result. This selection will be influenced largely by the conditions of the farmers, peculiarities of climate, soil, economic conditions, and commercial facilities.

I understand that the business of an experiment station is not to concentrate its attention wholly upon the investigation of abstruse scientific problems connected with the mysterious operations of animal and vegetable life, or upon the abstruse physiological and chemical changes taking place during the growth and development of the plant and animal. The operations of ferments and the abiding places of fungi ; the interesting chemical attractions leading to the oxidation and reduction of inorganic and carbonaceous matters in the soil; the quantity of nitrogen derived from the various sources of supply; the processes of nutrition; the production of starch, sugar, and albuminoids in living plants and animals; the formation of acids, ptomaines and leucomaines in putrefying plants and animals, are all questions of the highest scientific interest. To the man devoting his life to probing nature and endeavoring to supply the world with new facts derived from the by-ways and dark corners of the earth, these subjects offer unlimited fields for investigation.

In some sections of the country I can imagine much more advantage may be secured to the farmers by spending a liberal share of our resources upon subjects of this character than in others. Under such conditions it is certainly eminently proper that the staff of the experiment station should be organized with this in view, and I congratulate those stations which have been able to secure suitable scientific workers for these purposes.

In other sections of the country work and time spent upon such study would be largely wasted so far as immediate benefit to the farming interests is concerned.

In some sections of the country the live-stock interests preponderate-in this section, the dairy interests, in that, the fruit and truck gardening interests. In still others, a more intensive system of agriculture may be desirable and a careful study of the effects of commercial fertilizers of the highest immediate importance.

The director of the station should determine quite early the branches of agriculture upon which he will concentrate his energies. In adopting his policy let him cast his lines along nature's highway. Let not the influence of experience be ignored. There is no section of country following a fixed line of agriculture which does not have some peculiarities which caused that system to be adopted. The director cannot ignore this accumulated experience, but should take advantage of it and shape his course accordingly. "The aim of science should be to apply past experience to existing circumstances." The director is supposed to avail himself of the work already done, to take advantage of everything that nature grants him in the form of climate, soil, immunity from the ravages of insects and diseases, and the economic and commercial conditions under which he is living.

One of Tennessee's historic characters, Davy Crockett, told his constituents to "be sure they were right, and then go ahead," while Cecil tells us that "the shortest way to do many things is to do only one at a time." Let none of our stations fail by undertaking too much. Perhaps all will agree that it will be better to do one or two things well, and to settle, as far as possible, one or two questions, than to dissipate the energies of the stations over so wide a field that none of the investigations can be carried to a successful conclusion.

In looking over the outline of work proposed at some of our stations, it may possibly impress you, as it has impressed me, that inexperience has led, either the board of control or the director, as the case may be, to undertake far too much for the resources at the command of the station. It may be desirable to undertake all of the work outlined in the law establishing these stations, but the director who does so may expect to be offered up as a propitiatory sacrifice to bucolic wrath.

The station organization must not only be affected by the conditions prevailing from natural causes, but the fact that the law places it in connection with the agricultural and mechanical colleges may also seriously affect the plan of organization. The relation of the stations to the colleges is a very difficult matter to determine. In several cases it is quite probable that members of the faculties of these institutions are being imposed upon. In several cases it seems that they have had large additional work given to them, apparently without additional remuneration to compensate for the increase of labor. In such cases the organization has led to injustice to old and tried servants. In other cases it looks as if the station were being bled by the college. You will agree with me that both are wrong. If a man is employed by the station, let him be paid for his work, and let him render full service for the money paid. If the college be supported from the station, an injustice is done to the farmers in depriving them of the benefits of funds intended especially for other purposes than that of supporting the college or its faculty.

It is with much regret, I have no doubt, that several of our directors have seen funds belonging to the station diverted to purposes other than those contemplated by the law. This fraud should be checked at once by the enactment of some rigid law preventing such a misappropriation of funds. It may be entirely proper to employ members of the faculties of these colleges upon station work, provided they be properly paid and have time to render faithful service to the station. This form of organization, however, has many temptations lurking in the background which may lead to injustice either to the college or to the station. Those in authority should study such a scheme very critically. If the station staff is doing its duty, it has little or no time for anything else, and if the members of a college faculty be as fully occupied as they generally are, they have little time that can be devoted to the station work without doing injustice to the college. The two should be kept as separate as possible-having distinct accounts, separate staffs, and independent organizations. If members of the faculty be employed, let it be by distinct and separate contract, and have it understood that the two accounts are separate and to be kept so. If the experiments can be conducted in such a manner as to utilize the intelligent labor of the undergraduates and assist them, and in this way increase the attendance at the Agricultural College, I think there would be no objection.

The work contemplated determines the experimental staff. One or more chemists will be necessary under all circumstances. An agriculturist, a horticulturist, a botanist, a veterinarian, a microscopist, a meteorologist, a geologist, an entomologist, a creamery man, a stockman, a mechanic, a stenographer, and a book-keeper may all be brought into requisition. In addition, other specialists may occasionally be employed upon particular work, such as an ornithologist, a taxidermist, a wine-maker, an architect, and a forester.

Does it not appear from information before us that a station may be forced to carry such a load of dead weight, in the form of incompetent workers or overworked faculties, that little can be accomplished? It takes time to educate the farmers, the staff, and—dare I suggest it -also very often the board of control, to understand that the station to succeed must have its funds fully in hand, its staff perfectly qualified, enthusiastic, and united in their efforts. For many years to come we may expect more or less of the resources of these experiment stations to be virtually wasted, until a proper public spirit can be trained so that it will be dangerous for any board, college president, director, or experimenter to divert the funds from their proper use. The question of methods I shall leave for others to discuss, begging, however, to say that I think the proper method is from the scientific and theoretical to the practical. Care should be observed to check all the deductions by as many results, secured by various processes, as possible. Let the methods be characterized by the skillful application of the most rigid scientific principles of investigation.

DANGERS AHEAD.

Let not the organization of the station be all that is done. Much of the most valuable scientific work has been accomplished in the face of obstacles that appeared to be almost insurmountable. It does not require immense landed estates, palatial barns and laboratories to accomplish good results; and whenever, in a station staff, a man is found to be unable to work without these valuable adjuncts, the board of control should at once find another man for his place. The success of the station will always depend rather upon its staff of workers than upon its equipment.

Mr. JORDAN. I move that we now adjourn until after lunch.

The PRESIDENT. Before we adjourn the chair has an announcement to make which should have been made earlier, but by oversight was omitted. Last evening the President of the Association received this telegram from Chattanooga :

President ATHERTON,

Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations: We extend you a cordial invitation to visit our city when you adjourn.

D. B. LOVETTON, President Chamber of Commerce.

I should have presented that to the Association the first thing in the morning.

Mr. SANBORN. I want to say that I came through Chattanooga, and was detained there half a day. It would pay any of the gentlemen here to go a long way to see that city.

The PRESIDENT. This is properly a topic of business which will be referred to the executive committee, for such recommendations as they may make, subject to the action of the Association.

I have another aunouncement to make in which all will be interested. Dr. and Mrs. Dabney cordially invite the members of the Association and the ladies and gentlemen in attendance on it, to meet the ladies of

the Faculty of the University of Tennessee at the President's residence from 4 until 5 o'clock this afternoon.

The Chilhowee Club, of the city of Knoxville, extends to the Associa tion a hearty invitation to attend a reception at its rooms this evening from 9 to 12 o'clock.

In order that the movements of the members may be anticipated or guided by themselves intelligently, it will be necessary to fix some time for the adjournment this afternoon or evening, and then the matter of accepting or declining the courteous invitations can be passed upon separately. Is the Association ready to fix a time at which it will adjourn this afternoon or evening?

Mr. PATTERSON. I move that we adjourn this afternoon at 4 o'clock. The motion was agreed to.

The PRESIDENT. Are you ready to fix a time of adjournment for the evening session?

Mr. WILLITS. I move we adjourn at 9 o'clock this evening.
The motion was agreed to.

The PRESIDENT. What action will the Association take on the invitations that have been received?

Mr. WILLITS. I move that the invitation of Dr. and Mrs. Dabney be accepted by the convention.

The motion was agreed to unanimously.

The PRESIDENT. If there be no objection, the invitation of the Chilhowee Club will be referred to the executive committee to report this afternoon.

At 12.30 p.m. the Association took its usual recess.

AFTERNOON SESSION-THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1889.

The Association reassembled at 2.07 p. m.

The PRESIDENT. Judge Temple, the chairman of the local committee, desires to make an announcement to the Association.

Mr. TEMPLE. Mr. President and gentlemen, I was requested by the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of our city to say to you that the room of the Chamber of Commerce will be opened at any hour that may suit your convenience. He desires you to inspect a very considerable collections of the minerals in which these regions abound and large collections of our marbles and native woods.

The PRESIDENT. I would say before Judge Temple leaves, as he may desire to get definite information, that it will be impossible to go this afternoon, but that it might be possible to go this evening. Is it the sense of the Association that we return our thanks for the invitation and express our desire to avail ourselves of it?

Mr. ALVORD. The executive committee report back to the Associa tion the invitation of the Chilhowee Club, and recommend that that

invitation be accepted with thanks, and that Dr. Dabney, president of the University, be requested to so inform the officers of the club. The report was adopted.

Mr. ALVORD. The committee further report that, having had under consideration the cordial invitation extended from the Chamber of Commerce of Chattanooga, Tenn., it is recommended that the secretary of the Association be instructed to communicate by telegraph to the president of the Chamber of Commerce the thanks of the Association and an expression of the inability of the Association as a whole to accept his invitation.

The report was adopted.

Mr. ALVORD. The committee further report that, having considered. the amendment to the constitution introduced by Dr. Armsby, action has been taken as follows:

The committee recommends that consideration of the proposed amendment be postponed till the next annual meeting of this Association, and that Dr. Armsby be requested, in the meantime, to furnish a copy of the proposed amendment to the director of each experiment station and the president of each agricultural college.

Mr. MORROW. I wish to say that, although I at first sight most heartily approved of the proposition of Dr. Armsby, I now see reason to favor the recommendation of the committee. I move the adoption of the recommendation.

Mr. ARMSBY. I do not wish to force this matter upon the meeting, but to say that from my point of view the time seems ripe for a provision of this sort for the future. At this meeting administrative questions have rightfully occupied the larger share of the time, and I think we are ready to admit that the discussion has been profitable. For this very reason it seems to me this class of subjects need not occupy the same proportion of the time of the Association in subsequent meetings. It has seemed to me exceedingly desirable to provide for meetings of those interested in experimental work, and those interested in teaching. I intentionally put the amendment in such form as to leave it entirely to the judgment of the executive committee in preparing the programme to determine the portion of the time of the meeting to be given to divisions; to decide whether the meetings of these sections should be simultaneous or not, and whether the general meetings of the Association should go on at the same time.

Mr. HENRY. A wise general drills his privates as thoroughly as he can. These meetings appear now to be rather conferences of officers to talk about how to manage the privates than places for the privates. I think this proper at this stage; but I believe that if this army is to succeed there must be a drilling of the privates, which can be accomplished in part by coming together. I hope to see the time when the ordinary workers of the stations shall be largely represented here, even though the directors be compelled to stay at home a part of the time in order to accommodate them. We have been here talking shop, and