STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 565 



these districts through the issuance of bonds were enacted, largely 

 as a result of the information acquired and disseminated by our 

 drainage engineers. Under these laws hundreds of drainage districts 

 were formed during the period of the investigations and hundreds 

 of thousands of acres of swamp and overflowed lands were reclaimed. 



OTHER STUDIES IN RURAL ENGINEERING. 



In connection with the irrigation and drainage investigations con- 

 siderable attention was given to studies of the machinery required 

 in these lines of agricultural work, including pumps, windmills, 

 devices for measuring and applying water, machines for digging and 

 cleaning drainage ditches, and the like. Encouragement and as- 

 sistance were also given to the agricultural colleges which were begin- 

 ning to organize more definite courses relating to farm machinery, 

 buildings, and other subjects connected with rural engineering. 



In 1907 an expert in farm machinery was employed in the Office 

 of Experiment Stations and an attempt was made to inaugurate 

 studies which it was hoped might lead to the improvement and 

 standardization of the machines used on farms. The time was ap- 

 parently not ripe for creating a permanent Federal agency for such 

 work and the pressure of other enterprises led to its discontinuance 

 after a year's trial. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



From its beginning the Department of Agriculture has shown 

 an interest in agricultural education. Some of its early reports gave 

 accounts of institutions for agricultural education at home and 

 abroad. The meetings of representatives of the agricultural colleges 

 called by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Norman J. Colman, 

 ^^■hich led to the organization of the Association of American Agri- 

 cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations and the passage of the 

 Hatch Act, brought about a broader relation of the department to 

 the cause of agricultural education. It was therefore natural that 

 when the Office of Experiment Stations was established it should 

 be encouraged to aid in a general way the colleges with which the 

 stations were connected. 



As already stated (p. 554), one of the first pieces of work com- 

 mitted to this office was the preparation of an exhibit and report on 

 agricultural education in the United States. The Morrill Act of 

 1890 provided that copies of the annual reports of the agricultural 

 colleges should be sent to the Department of Agriculture. Wlien 

 these were received they were intrusted to the Office of Experiment 

 Stations. Thus a foundation was laid for the systematic collection 

 and dissemination of information regarding these institutions. 

 Representatives of the office regularly attended the meetings of the 

 association of agricultural colleges, and that office undertook the 

 editing and publication of the proceedings of the association, begin- 

 ning in 1889 and continuing through 1909. 



As soon as the office undertook an annual inspection of the experi- 

 ment stations its representatives, especially the director and assistant 

 director, were brought into personal contact with trustees, presi- 

 dents, and teachers in the colleges. Many opportunities were thus 

 afforded to give and receive information regarding agricultural 

 education. The college association began in 1894 through a special 



