138 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

 RELATIONS WITH AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The sLxty-two agricultural experiment stations in the several 

 States and Territories have been actively at work in the interest 

 of the farmers and horticulturists during the past year. Fifty-five 

 of these stations receive appropriations provided for b}" acts of Con- 

 gress, which amounted to $1,344,000 for the fiscal year ended June 

 30, 1910. The state legislatures made appropriations for their work 

 amounting to over $1,000,000, and additional sums were received 

 from fees for analyses of fertilizers, sales of farm products, and other 

 local sources aggregating about $750,000. The total annual revenue 

 of the stations is now over $3,000,000, as compared with half that 

 sum in 1905. 



In 1906 Congress passed the Adams Act, by which the stations 

 were granted additional funds from the National T^easur^^ Under 

 the terms of this act this grant was to be increased annually for five 

 years. The maximum has now been reached and the stations will 

 receive $720,000 under the Adams Act during the current fiscal year. 

 The liberal pohcy of Congress toward the stations has resulted in 

 much larger appropriations by the States and a material increase 

 of their revenues from other sources. The Adams fund is restricted 

 in its use to original research. The state funds are mainly used for 

 the more practical work, including the maintenance of substations, 

 demonstration fields, agricultural surveys, and a great variety of 

 local experiments, as well as for printing and disseminating the results 

 of the experiments. By this cooperation of the National and State 

 governments in fostering the stations, their operations have been 

 greatly strengthened and the results of their work have been brought 

 more directly to the attention of the farmers in every part of the 

 United States. 



The Adams Act has enabled the stations to attack a large number 

 of the more fundamental and difficult problems of our agriculture. 

 The scientific work of the stations has been greatly broadened and 

 increased in efficiency. A much more solid foundation on which to 

 base a rational practice of agriculture is thus being established. 

 According to the Comptroller's decision the appropriations under 

 the Adams Act were limited by the terms of the act to a period of 

 five years. It will therefore be necessary for Congress to take further 

 action if the stations are to continue to receive this needed increase. 

 It is believed that the appropriation is of great importance to our 

 agriculture and that without it the work of our stations would be 

 seriously crippled. I have included it in the estimates submitted 

 for the ensuing fiscal year. 



