166 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



{issig'nnienl of tlie work of tlio Office aiv as follows: (1) Relations with 

 American and foreign institutions for agricultural education and 

 research, including the sujDervision of the expenditures of agricultural 

 experiment stations in the United States, in immediate charge of the 

 Director; (L') the Experiment Station Record, in charge of the assist- 

 ant director, Dr. E. W. Allen; (3) Experiment Station Work and mis- 

 cellaneous publications of the Office, in charge of Mr. W. H. Beal; (4) 

 experiment stations in Alaska, in charge of Prof. C. C. Georgeson, 

 with headquarters at Sitka; (5) nutrition investigations, in charge of 

 Prof. W. O. Atwater, with headquarters at Middletown, Conn. ; (6) 

 irrigation investigations, in charge of Prof. Elwood Mead, with head- 

 quarters at Cheyenne, Wyo. 



It is expected that during the present year the number of these divi- 

 sions will be increased by the establishment of experiment stations in 

 Porto Rico and Hawaii, preliminar}^ ari-angements for which have 

 alreadj^ been made, as stated elsewhere in this report. The enlarge- 

 ment of our business has necessarily increased the responsibilities of 

 the assistant director in respect to general administrative duties and 

 the visitation of the experiment stations. The routine business of the 

 Office, involved in its correspondence, requisitions, commissions, and 

 miscellaneous clerical work, having reached a point when its more 

 definite organization was essential to the greatest efficiency, what is 

 practically a "business division" has been established and put in 

 charge of Mrs. C. E. Johnston, who has been employed in the Director's 

 office as correspondence clerk since the establishment of the Office. 

 By this means the numerous details of our business in the city of 

 Washington and with our outside agents and correspondents have 

 been satisfactorilj^ managed. In the conduct of our more important 

 outside enterprises it has been found desirable to have officers con- 

 nected with the force at Washington, D. C, who are especially charged 

 with promoting the interests of these enterprises as a regular part of 

 their official business. Thus, Mr. W. II. Beal is our local representa- 

 tive for the irrigation investigations and Dr. C. F. Langworthy for the 

 nutrition investigations. In a similar w-ay, it is expected that Dr. W. 

 H. Evans will aid in the establishment and work of the experiment 

 stations in Porto Rico and Hawaii, as he has already done in the case 

 of Alaska. During the past j^ear two members of our force, Messrs. 

 C. B. Smith and J. I. Schulte, have spent anumberof months in Europe 

 at their own expense to enlarge their knowledge of agricultural science 

 and practice by study and travel. ]VIr. Schulte has recently made effi- 

 cient use of his linguistic and expert knowledge as interpreter and 

 juror under the United States Commission at the Paris Exposition. 



By detail to the Division of Botany, Dr. E. V. Wilcox has joined in 

 an investigation of the effects of poisonous plants on sheep feeding on 

 the ranges in Montana, thus continuing the work begun byhimwiien 

 an officer of the Montana experiment station. During the year the 

 office met with a severe loss in the death of Miss J. A. Davis, who for 

 many years had been a skilled and efficient clerk and stenograj)her, 

 performing services of high grade and great usefulness. 



Relations with American and Foreign Institutions for Agri- 

 cultural Education and Research. 



The general features of the work of the Office involved in its rela- 

 tions with American and foreign institutions for agricultural educa- 

 tion and research, in immediate charge of the Director, have remained 



