748 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



index. The total number of index cards distributed has now reached 

 31,000. The receipts from sales of the index during the year were 

 $218.2G. 



The supervision of the work of preparing the publications of the 

 Office, in case of all publications except the Experiment Station 

 Record, is one of the lines of work of Mr. W. H. Beal. The man- 

 agement of the Record is in direct charge of Dr. E. W. Allen, 

 Assistant Director. 



WORK FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. 



The Director of this Office has continued to act as the general rep- 

 resentative of the Department in matters relating to the examina- 

 tions held by the Civil Service Commission for technical and scientific 

 ])ositions in the Department. The number of papers received from 

 the Civil Service Commission recorded in this Office and rated by 

 examiners in the Department during the year was about 2,720, as 

 compared with about 2,000 reported last 3'ear. Besides the regular 

 examinations, 38 special examinations were held during the year, as 

 compared with 40 last year. 



INSULAR STATIONS. 



The past fiscal year has been an interesting and profitable one at 

 each of the stations maintained by this Office. But few changes have 

 been made in the personnel of the stations, and the excellent condition 

 of the work reflects credit upon the special agents in charge. 



There has been no change in the policy of conducting investigations 

 looking toward the diversification of agriculture, and the lines of 

 work at the several stations have been continued as before. Much 

 work is done of necessity that appears to be of an elementary nature, 

 and demonstrations are made to give wide publicity to the results of 

 investigations made by the stations, yet the fundamental principles of 

 agriculture are never lost siglit of and the scientific aspect of experi- 

 ments is never disregarded. Each station has its special problems, and 

 the manner in which they are being worked out is briefly described in 

 the subjoined accounts of the work. 



The jDublic appreciation of the stations and their work continues to 

 grow, as is shown by the increased demand for station publications 

 and for aid to solve individual problems, by the increased interest in 

 the experiments, and in some instances by individual and local con- 

 tributions to the expenses of the Avork. All of this is very gratifying 

 to those in charge, but the appreciation is not wholly confined to the 

 immediate constituency. The published results of the work are re- 

 peated in other countries having similar conditions, and some of 

 the work has attracted wide attention. This is especially true of the 

 work with cotton in Hawaii, the studies on manganese in pineapple 

 soils of Hawaii, and those on the " sick " soils of Porto Rico. The 

 work of the Alaska stations is beginning to be recognized, and the 

 mainland press is learning that there are agricultural possibilities of 

 no small importance in that undeveloped country. 



The several bureaus and divisions of this Department continue to 

 cooperate generously with the stations, supplying materials and in- 

 formation that are of great value and which the stations can not 



