16 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



tensive scale. In Hawaii and Porto Rico the investigations include 

 experiments with all sorts of crops except sugar cane. In both coun- 

 tries sugar production is the leading industry and the planters have 

 provided experiment stations for working out their especial prob- 

 lems. Fruit growing, forage production, the introduction of new 

 crops and agricultural industries, live-stock improvement, etc., are 

 receiving attention. At the Guam station the principal problems are 

 the restoration of agriculture to its former importance, the improve- 

 ment of live stock, and the introduction of new crops. The main 

 features of the w^ork at the different stations are briefly described 

 in the subjoined reports. 



All the stations are growing in the esteem and favor of the people 

 for whom they are maintained. This is shown by the rapidly in- 

 creasing growth in correspondence, in the demand for publications, 

 and in individual requests for advice, the readiness to engage in 

 cooperative work of all sorts, and the increasingly generous private 

 and community contributions of funds. The scientific work of the 

 stations is attracting wide attention, their publications being noted 

 in the principal scientific review journals of the world, and in not 

 a few instances permission has been given for the republication of 

 some of the bulletins in foreign countries. 



Through local funds, contributed for the purpose, there have been 

 several additions to the cooperatiA'e demonstration farms maintained 

 b}^ some of the stations. It is expected on these farms to present 

 visual evidence of some of the more practical results of the stations' 

 work, while the more technical experiments are carried out on the 

 station proper. 



The several bureaus and offices of this department continue to 

 cooperate generously with the stations, thus materially assisting in 

 their Avork. It is desired to make proper acknowledgment for 

 this aid. 



The administrative Avork of the insular stations in their relations 

 with the Office of Exjieriment Stations continues to be in charge of 

 Dr. Walter H. Evans, as chief of the division of insular stations. 



ALASKA STATIONS. 



The reports from the Alaska stations for the past year have been 

 very gratifying. An unfavorable spring was followed by many 

 clear, warm days during the summer, and along the coast the growirg 

 season was prolonged well into autumn. The first destructive frost 

 in the interior came the last night of August, but freezing weather 

 did not come until the last of September. At Sitka freezing tempera- 

 tures were not experienced until late in October. As a result of the 

 favorable weather, all the usual crops Avere fully ripened and some 

 that have hitherto been of doubtful adaptability Avere matured. 



