REPORT OF DIRECTOR OF STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 303 



OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



E. W. Allen, Chief. 



As a part of the States Relations Service this office is charged with 

 the business connected (1) with the department's relations with the 

 State agricultural experiment stations, including the supervision of 

 the funds and work under the Federal appropriations, the preparation 

 of the abstract journal Experiment Station Record, now in its twenty- 

 seventh year, and of the card index of experiment station literature, 

 and (2) with the management of the Federal experiment stations in 

 Alaska, Hawaii. Porto Rico, and Guam. Minor functions relate to 

 the assistance of the institutions in securing suitable experts for their 

 various lines of work, the looking up of literature on special subjects 

 relating to their investigations, and keeping a record of the organiza- 

 tion and progress of experiment stations throughout the world. 



RELATIONS WITH THE STATE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The relations between the office and the experiment stations in the 

 various States continued to be of the most intimate and cordial 

 nature. While the administrative and supervisory duties made in- 

 cumbent under the Hatch and Adams Acts are a primary function, 

 the advisory functions growing out of this relationship are an impor- 

 tant feature. The whole effort of the office is directed toward encour- 

 aging and strengthening the stations and their work. This is sought 

 to be accomplished by conserving their funds to experimental and 

 research work, by protecting their interests in general, and by aiding 

 and stimulating their activities as far as possible along lines of gen- 

 uine investigation. The publication of the Experiment Station Rec- 

 ord contributes to this end through its editorials and its current review 

 of agricultural experimentation and research in this country and 

 abroad. 



During the year there was no decrease in the amount of attention 

 directed to the use made of the Federal funds and the work and con- 

 ditions under them. An annual visitation of all the stations was 

 conducted. This examination of the stations in their respective fields 

 has given first-hand information upon the conditions surrounding 

 them and the classes of local problems presented for their solution. 

 As in previous years, it has afforded opportunity for intimate con- 

 tact with the personnel as well as the work of the stations, and has 

 enabled personal conferences with the directors and heads of de- 

 partments and often with members of the local governing boards. 

 In no other way could an adequate and intelligent view be secured of 

 the organization, administration, and work of these institutions, the 

 methods and progress of their work, and the needs in various direc- 

 tions. 



During the year new administrative officers assumed their duties 

 at a number of the colleges and stations. In several instances these 

 men had not had previous experience in similar institutions or in 

 executive work of this kind, and hence were not familiar with the 

 aims and methods of station organization and management. This 

 has called for special attention in reference to a wide range of mat- 

 ters in which the proper status and most effective work of the sta- 

 tions would be seriously affected by administrative policy or action. 



