STATE coLLEoE or Kauruckv. 3
Trustees in September, 1885, when the Department was organized and
a Director appointed. In 1886 the Station was recognized and named
by the General Assembly, and in 1887 it became the beneficiary of the
first annual appropriation of $15,000 under the Hatch act providing
for the establishment of Agricultural Experiment Stations in the several
States and Territories.
The work of the Station is directed to two objects : 1. To a con-
stant succession of experiments made by specialists, in order to learn
what applications of science will insure the best returns from the farm,
the garden, the orchard, the vineyard, the stockyard, and the dairy.
2. To the publication of bulletins announcing such results of the
- experiments as are found to be valuable to those of the people of Ken-
tucky who seek profit from any of those prime sources of wealth-the
soil, the flock, and the herd.
Results of experiments have been published in eleven annual reports ·
and ninety-seven bulletins, and general appreciation of their utility is ·
shown in the fact that, while no bulletin is sent except upon application
for it, the mailing list of the Station contains more than 8,500 names, A ,
and is ever increasing.
With an ample endowment, a large and commodious building plan-
ned for the purpose, adequate apparatus, a good experimental farm 1
conveniently situated, and a staff of fifteen scientists engaged in seven
divisions of research and in correspondence with other stations, the
Kentucky Experiment Station is not only an important adjunct of the
College in the education of students for the leading industrial pursuits,
but, directly or indirectly, through the wide and continual diffusion of ·
knowledge for the benefit of so large a proportion of our population, it
is bound to be extremely useful to the Commonwealth at large.
_ LOCATION.
The State College of Kentucky is established in the old City Park,
just within the southern boundary of Lexington and near the Cincin-
nati Southern Railway. The site is elevated and commands a good
view of much of the city and of the surrounding country.
Lexington, now a growing city of thirty-odd thousand inhabitants,
is in the heart of the far-famed Bluegrass region, a region distin-
guished for fertility and healthfulness, wealth and beauty. Numerous
schools and churches, an intelligent and refined population, well-paved '
streets, handsome buildings, extensive water—works, and an unsurpassed
system of street electric railways make Lexington attractive as a seat
of learning and place of residence, while the splendid stock farms
scattered over the large body of fertile country around it afford `
advantages hardly equaled elsewhere for the student who desires to
become familiar with the best breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine
in America. Moreover, with railroads diverging in seven directions,
Lexington is the railroad center of Kentucky, and in direct connection I