understood that he is rendering highly satisfactory services, while it is still possible for him to carry on most of the editorial work of the Station.

The Director of the Station very soon after the declaration of war began to interest himself in food conservation and has endeavored through public addresses and the instruction of classes in war dietetics to promote such economy in the use of food resources as is required by war conditions. Later he was asked by Mr. Hoover to serve on the Federal Milk Commission for the purpose of establishing milk prices for the City of New York. This service is not yet completed.

MAINTENANCE FUND.

The following appropriations were made available for the use of the Station during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1917.

The amount appropriated was $6,379.80 less than the request of the Board of Control.

In accordance with the action of your Board the following budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1918, has been presented to the

Governor's Budget Committee. It is not yet acted upon by the Legislative Budget Committee.

In addition to the above for salaries, labor, maintence and operation, the budget contains requests for the following:

Repairs...

New construction*

Total requested. . . .

$178,335 00

$3,150 00
70,000 00

73,150 00

$251,485 00

* Remainder of $100,000 appropriated, but not made immediately available for administration, demonstration and library building.

LABOR SITUATION.

It is to be noted that the amount asked for the maintenance of labor at the Station is considerably increased over that received during the present fiscal year. This increase is necessary because of the fact that it is not possible to obtain efficient labor at the wages now paid. The Institution is unfortunate in being located very near a munition plant where wages are rated at an abnormally high figure. It is, therefore, very difficult for the Station to secure labor at the wages that would ordinarily be paid. This fact, taken in

connection with the general scarcity of labor, makes the situation very difficult. During the past season it has not been possible to obtain desirable labor at any price which could be paid within the resources of the Institution.

SALARY CONDITIONS.

It is universally true that when for any reason living costs materially increase, persons occupying salaried positions are placed at a disadvantage because increases in salaries, if realized at all, come very much later than the increased living expenses. It is for this reason that the members of the Station Staff receiving the smaller salaries are feeling very seriously the effect of the greater cost of rent, clothing and food supplies. It seems unfortunate that while the needs of organized labor in this particular are met quite promptly, teachers, scientific workers, clerks and similar employees receive at first scant consideration.

NEW BUILDING.

The Legislature of 1915 appropriated $100,000.00 for the construction and equipment of an Administration, Demonstration and Library building for this Institution. Of this appropriation $30,000 was made immediately available, under which construction began; and the building is now roofed in and is ready for interior construction. Varying conditions, including scarcity of labor and the slowness with which materials have been secured and transported have seriously delayed work on this structure. It now appears that it will probably be ready for occupancy some time during the summer of 1918.

FURTHER BUILDING NEEDS.

In previous reports attention has been called to the fact that new plant houses and a cold storage house must be soon erected at the Institution if it is to continue present lines of work. The report presented to you for 1916 contained the following statement:

“The time has come when in order to carry on its work with the desired efficiency new and greatly enlarged plant houses should be provided. The present plant houses of the Station were erected about twenty-five years ago. They have exceeded the usual life of such structures, and are now neither adequate nor efficient. There is a large amount of work in agricultural investigation which should be carried on in such houses, if carried on at all, including

plant breeding, plant nutrition and studies of plant diseases and injurious insects, to all of which lines the Station is obliged to give much attention.

"The small cold-storage house, established chiefly for the storing of fruits, was erected at the Station something more than twenty years ago. The preservation of fruits, of which the Station has several thousand varieties, requires cold storage facilities in order that such materials may be used for study and exhibition purposes. The present cold-storage plant is inadequate in size and construction and if retained will need enlargement and extensive repairs. A new building should be erected.

It is not to be expected that an institution which has been in operation for thirty-four years should not find it necessary to replace buildings of a somewhat perishable character that have been in use during that time. The State must either provide the means for such replacement or allow the institution to deteriorate seriously in appliances and efficiency."

RELATION OF THE STATION TO WAR CONDITIONS.

It is an encouraging fact that the institutions established through Federal and State aid, without exception, have patriotically been held ready for such services as it has been possible for them to render in accomplishing the purpose for which this Nation entered the war. If there ever has been any serious question as to the wisdom of establishing the Colleges of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Stations, all doubts of this kind should certainly now disappear. The war in which we are now engaged is one which is testing all the resources of the Nation, particularly our food supply. Because we must not only feed ourselves but the Allies who have been facing the enemy so long and whose productive capacity has been greatly diminished through the entering of forty or more million men into war service, it is incumbent upon us to increase the production of food stuffs if possible and to conserve to the fullest extent that which we produce. It is self-evident, therefore, that the knowledge which has been accumulated through agricultural research and which has been disseminated through the agricultural colleges and experiment stations is now of the highest importance. Our present knowledge of the means of increasing crop production and of defending farmers against the inroads of pests is serving us at

a critical time and without such knowledge our condition would be much more serious than it is. More than this, a large number of men trained in our colleges of agriculture are rendering war service of the highest importance. This Nation will sometime learn, as we trust it is now learning, that its efficiency depends, and always will depend, upon our understanding of how to develop and conserve our material resources as well as upon the expert service which trained men may render in agriculture and our industrial life.

The withdrawal of so many men from the faculties of the colleges of agriculture and the staffs of the experiment stations has more or less depressed the activities of these institutions. The situation has also caused men whose ordinary function is that of research or teaching to engage more largely in the efforts of popular education. No criticism should be offered concerning this condition, because the first duty of every man now is to aid the Nation at the most critical points in bringing the war to a successful conclusion.

There has been much inquiry and discussion concerning the activities of experiment stations as a means of rendering special services under war conditions. It does not seem that there are many new efforts which could be undertaken to advantage. The work of these institutions has been directly in the line of increasing our knowledge of the factors which enter into crop production and concerning the means for defending crops of various kinds against pests. It would seem, therefore, that the only course to pursue is to continue these investigations, with occasional deviations of effort to meet special war conditions. What we have been doing, however, would seem to be what we should continue to do in the most earnest and energetic manner possible.

STATION PUBLICATIONS.

The distribution of Station publications for the year has been in accordance with the following figures: