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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
The State pioneered in agricultural education and research. In 1864 the
legislature designated the Rutgers Scientific School as the Land Grant
College. In 1880 the State set up an agricultural experiment station at
New Brunswick-the fifth of such State stations to be founded in this
country. The State board of agriculture was established in 1875 and reorganized in 1916 to provide for the present department of agriculture.
Other agencies that have contributed significantly toward the progress
of New Jersey agriculture include the various State and local agricultural
societies and associations, the high school departments of agriculture, the
State Grange with its local branches scattered throughout the State, and
the State Farm Bureau Federation.
These public and semi-public agencies have taken the leadership in developing New Jersey's farms. They have provided scientific training in
agriculture for young men and women and kept farmers abreast of new
discoveries in management of soils and crops, as well as in control of
destructive insects and diseases. Farmers, manufacturers, and tradesmen
have all received protection against fraud in handling farm produce and
supplies.
The agricultural experiment station conducts experiments in dairy science at Beemerville in Sussex County, a cranberry-blueberry laboratory in
Burlington County, a poultry pathology laboratory in Cumberland County,
an oyster laboratory in Cape May County; also poultry contests in Passaic,
Hunterdon, and Cumberland Counties, and a pigeon contest in Cumberland County.
Among the many contributions the experiment station has made to agricultural progress are new varieties of peaches, such as the Golden Jubilee
and the Cumberland, the new Rutgers tomato, the discovery of vaccine for
poultry bronchitis, improved fertilizers, control of potato diseases, the
reduction of the mosquito pest, improved methods of sewage disposal,
growth of greenhouse vegetables and flowers with nutrient solutions in
sand, new dairy rations, and improved strains of field crops. New facts
about human and animal nutrition have been revealed. Discoveries in soil
science and other departments have won world-wide recognition. Since
1914 the New Brunswick station has conducted the largest peach-breeding
experiment in the world, pollenizing by hand as many as 30,000 blossoms in
one season. The orchards attract thousands of visitors to the college farm.
Through the extension service of the New Jersey College of Agriculture
and the agricultural experiment station, scientific information is made
readily available throughout the State. The college, in cooperation with
the United States Department of Agriculture, maintains an office in every
county but one. Expert agents assigned to these offices give free service to
the local residents and to groups of persons who seek advice on questions
relating to agriculture and home economics. Also, thousands of boys and
girls are members of the 4-H Clubs directed through the county offices.
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