18 KEPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



without sufficient definite experimental work. The office has main- 

 tained that the Hatch fund should not be largely drawn upon to 

 provide for the general administration of the stations operating 

 with liberal State appropriations, but that it should be used mainly 

 for definite experimental work in much the same way that the 

 Adams fund is. It is more and more evident that those stations 

 which have no regular State appropriation will find increasing 

 difficulty in meeting the calls upon them in the way of simple or 

 local trials, the giving out of general information, answering miscel- 

 laneous correspondence, preparation of popular bulletins, etc. 



The States have been increasingly liberal in the matter of appro- 

 priations for maintenance and for buildings and equij^ment. The 

 revenues of the stations for the year aggregated nearly $3,000,000, 

 and fully half of this came from State and local sources. But these 

 revenues are frequently not available for meeting general expenses 

 for maintenance, being provided for special purposes; and this fact 

 has unduly increased the burden for maintenance against the Hatch 

 fund. 



"V^liile the office is following closely and criticizing frankly the 

 work and expenditures of the stations, it is also deeply impressed 

 with their increasing scientific and practical strength and the im- 

 portance of their operations, as well as the growing appreciation of 

 the results of their work by the agricultural people throughout the 

 country and abroad. The gi'anting of Federal aid to original re- 

 search through the Adams Act has materially raised the level of 

 scientific aim and accuracy, and established new standards for 

 thoroughness and fundamental work. Instead of minimizing their 

 more practical work, this has led the States to increase largely their 

 funds for substations and special experimental work. The x\merican 

 system of agricultural experiment stations is, therefore, more com- 

 prehensive, far-reaching, and permanently established than ever 

 before. 



INSULAR EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



It is a i^leasure to note the growing appreciation of these stations 

 and their work, as is shown by the more frequent requests for aid 

 in the solution of individual problems, local contributions toward the 

 expense of experiments, and greater demand for the publications. 

 This aj^preciation is not confined to the immediate constituency of 

 the stations, but the published results of their work are being sought 

 by other countries having similar problems, and recently formal per- 

 mission was granted a foreign government to reprint certain of their 

 bulletins. The work of the Hawaii and Porto Eico stations on trop- 

 ical fruits, the Hawaii investigations on rice, cotton, and manganese 

 soils, and the Porto Rico studies on the cause of the so-called " sick 

 soils " and means for their improvement have all attracted wide 



