Excerpt from The Survey-Idea in Country-Life Work, 1911

At Cornell, the survey-idea began to take shapemore than twenty years ago. It was really begun with a piece of work in 1890 that culminated in the publication of Bulletin 19, Report upon the Condi tion of Fruit-growing in Western New York. On the passage of the Experiment Station Extension Bill, or Nixon Bill, in 1894, a definite program of exploration of the horticultural industries of the State was begun, and several bulletins were the re sult, such as Impressions of the Peach Industry in Western New York, The Cultivation of Cr chards, The Geological History of the Chautauqua Grape Belt, and others.

In the first report on this extension work in horticulture, for 1895, the writer made the follow ing statement: Another type of research work which we have undertaken under the auspices of this bill [the Nixon Bill, applying to the fifth judicial department of the State] is the investigation of the conditions of certain horticultural interests in West ern New York. In the interest of these particular in quiries, we traveled no less than miles in Western New York and have visited and examined many hundreds, if not thousands, of plantations. We have attempted in these investigations to learn the actual state of the industries and to suggest means for their improvement. They are really the begin ning of a horticultural survey which can be much extended with great profit. In the second report, for the year 1896, it was said: The animus of the entire enterprise has been an attempt to inquire into the agricultural status, to discover the causes of the rural depression, and to suggest means for improving the farmer's position. This attempt has been specifically directed to a single great branch of rural industry, horticulture, in pursuance of the provisions of the law; but what is true of the horticultural communi ties is essentially true of other agricultural regions, and, moreover, these two types of agricultural indus try cannot be separated by any arbitrary lines. The work, therefore, has practically resulted in a broad study of rural economics. We conceive that it is im possible really to extend the Experiment Station and University impulse to the people in such manner that it shall come to them as a living and quickening force, without first studying the fundamental difficulties of the farmers' social and political environment.'

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