102 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



not only furnish the basis for improv- 

 ing the existing methods of irrigation 

 and for framing more equitable laws, 

 but they indicate the lines along which 

 investigation should be directed. 



This year marks the twenty-fifth 

 anniversary of the establishment of agri- 

 cultural experiment stations in the 

 United States. Beginning with a single 

 station in Connecticut in 1875, the num- 

 ber has steadily grown until to-day we 

 have a system of experiment stations 

 embracing every State and Territory in 

 the Union. The history of this move- 

 ment and the present status of the sta- 

 tions is the subject of an interesting and 

 attractive volume of over six hundred 

 pages, prepared by Dr. A. C. True, di- 

 rector of the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, and Mr. V. A. Clark, assistant, 

 and published by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. It is a com- 

 prehensive account of the evolution and 

 development of the experiment station 

 enterprise; the organization, lines of 

 work and equipment of the stations; 

 some of the more striking results of 

 practical application which they have 

 attained; and a description of each of 

 the fifty-six stations individually. These 

 latter descriptions are illustrated by one 

 hundred and fifty-three plates, showing 

 the buildings, fields, laboratories, herds, 

 etc., of the different stations. The 

 greatest impulse to the station move- 

 ment was given by the passage of the 

 Hatch Act, in 1887, providing for the 

 establishment of experiment stations in 

 connection with the land-grant colleges, 

 and appropriating $15,000 a year 

 to each State and Territory for their 

 maintenance. At that time there were 

 some twelve stations, a part of which 

 received regular State appropriations. 

 During 1888 stations sprang into exist- 

 ence rapidly all over the country, and 

 in a surprisingly short time these sta- 

 tions had justified the expectations of 

 their advocates and proved their useful- 

 ness to the agriculture of the country. 



During the past ten years more than 

 ten million dollars have been expended 



in their maintenance, seven million of 

 which has come from the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. Dr. True reviews the mani- 

 fold benefits which have come from their 

 operations, and points out their value 

 in (1) the introduction of new agricul- 

 tural methods, crops or industries, and 

 the development of those already exist- 

 ing; (2) the removal of obstacles to ag- 

 riculture, such as diseases of plants and 

 animals, injurious insects and other 

 natural enemies; (3) the defense of the 

 farmer against fraud in the purchase of 

 fertilizers, feeding stuffs, insecticides 

 and in other ways; (4) aiding in the 

 passage and administration of laws for 

 the benefit of agriculture; and (5) in an 

 educational way. Brief as this summary 

 necessarily is, it brings out very forcibly 

 the wide range of usefulness of the ex- 

 periment stations to the farming com- 

 munity, touching nearly every phase of 

 agricultural operation, and their very 

 potent influence in arousing widespread 

 interest in the various forms of agricul- 

 tural education. "The stations are not 

 only giving the farmer much informa- 

 tion which will enable him to improve 

 his practice of agriculture, but they are 

 also leading him to a more intelligent 

 conception of the problem with wnich 

 he has to deal, and of the methods he 

 must pursue to successfully perform his 

 share of the work of the community 

 and hold his rightful place in the com- 

 monwealth." One large result of the ed- 

 ucational work of the stations has been 

 the general breaking down of the popu- 

 lar conception that agriculture is not 

 capable of improvement through sys- 

 tematic and progressive researches in 

 its behalf conducted on scientific prin- 

 ciples. "There is now in this country a 

 much keener appreciation than hereto- 

 fore of the fact that the problems of ag- 

 riculture furnish adequate opportunity 

 for the exercise of the most thorough 

 scientific attainments and the highest 

 ability to penetrate the mysteries of na- 

 ture." 



Considered merely as organizations 

 for the advancement and diffusion of 

 knowledge, the stations have attained 



