The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1894-04-14

for arriving at his conclusions.
The result of this work is. that il
necessitates the scientific men of the
world who have devoted any attention
to this subject. reviewing that work
and squaring it by the new lines laid
down by the Entomologist of the West
Virginia Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion. | look upon it as one of the
most magnificent triumphs that the
Station has ever enjoyed, in being
able on this occasion when we come
together to celebrate the completion
of our Station Building, and to rejoice
in our enlarged facilities for success
fully carrying forward the work Of the
Station, to announce to the scientific
world that we, this day, present to
you solution of one of the most per-
picking problems that has bothered
the brain of scientific Investigators
both in this country and abroad. 1t is
true that it represents for us years of
the most careful, persistent and tire
less application, but the reward is
amply sufficient to justify it. If she
solution of this great problem which
has the most practical bearing upon
the production of ono of the most i'm
portant crops of our country, the po-
tato crop, be correct, we are now in
position to advance step farther, and
propose means of protecting this crop
from the rayages of this pest, which
Mr.. Hopkins has done. L take pleas
ure in congratulating Mr.. Hopkins
this day upon the success of an inves-
tigation which will place his name
high on the roll of those who have
contributed new ideas for the promo
ton of knowledge and the material
development of our race, and the
Board of Regents is to be congratula-
ted upon permitting these lines of in
vestigation to go forward without
interruption and with every encour-
agement that they could offer, until
such satisfactory results have been ar
rived at.
One of the functions of the Agricultur-
al Experiment Station is to distribute
practical and scientific information
among the farmers of the state. In obe-
dience to this mandate OF the law, the
West Virginia Agricultural Experiment
Station has issued three SO page bulle-
tins and three annual reports, aggregat-
ing 1870 pages. The average edition of
these is about 10000 SO that we have
distributed among the farmers OF the
state an aggregate OF "a million hun
dred thousand pages of printed matter
since the organization of the Station.
The manuscript for our fourth annual
report was lost in the office of the Secre-
tary OF state or OF the state printer, and
We have been unable as vet TO replace
it, but hope to do so in the early future
and at the same time to issue our fifth
annual report
Our bulletins go to about 10000 of the
farmers and are addressed to about 1000
postoffices out of between eleven or
twelve hundred in the state. The Sta
ton staff in one capacity or another has
visited almost every county in the state,
and We have held farmers institutes
wherever we have been able to get the
ears of the farmers. In addition to this,
thousands Of pages of type written mat
ter in the form of letters have been adj
dressed to citizens, residing in almost
every county in the state, making in
quiries concerning subjects relating OF
their agricultural interests.
think we may truthfully say that the
Agricultural Experiment Station is rap
idly becoming a bureau of information
to answer the questions that are harras-
sing the farmers of the state. 1t has
been the effort of the Station staff to af-
ford Information that is perfectly relia-
BILE. Every member of the Staff is en-
gagged in this constant search after truth
upon the subjects falling within the pro-
vince Of his line of investigation.
| may say in conclusion that the finan-
cial system of the Station is such that
we have at all times been able to meet
our obligations, and there are at present
no debts hanging over us which the
prospective revenue of the Station will
not be amply sufficient to eliminate.
The success OF the Agricultural Ex-
pertinent Station up to date is due to the
energy and enthusiasm of its Staff; to
the fixity of purpose upon the part OF
the Board, to the unity OF action among
the members OF its Staff, and to the lack
OF that confusion and quarreling that
has SO often damaged and seriously af-
fected the progress of scientific investi-
CATION in some of the other Stations of
the country. The success of any enter
prise depends largely, in our judgment,
upon clinging fast to a settled line OF
policy, and carrying out the work begun
before attacking new problems, or aban-
doning it altogether. We have every
reason to feel proud Of our progress, and
to-day, we open to the public and to the
citizens of West Virginia the Agricultur-
al Experiment Station as complete in its
appointments, and as well equipped in
its several departments as any Station
in this broad land.