REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. XCTII 



the different European Governments, whose reports, along- with the 

 most authoritative commercial intelligence of interest to American 

 agriculturists, he transmits to Washington by mail or cable from time 

 to time. 



In cooperation with the State Agricultural College of Minnesota a 

 statistical investigation is being conducted by the Division of Statistics 

 into methods of farming, the results of which will have an important 

 bearing on such questions as the relative profitableness of crops, the 

 economical utilization of farm labor, etc. 



The work of this Division will shortly form the subject of a special 

 report to Congress. 



OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Development of the Work of the Office. 



The functions of the Office of Experiment Statiomr. nave been 

 enlarged in several directions during the past year, and the enterprises 

 previously in its charge have become more extensive. Especial efforts 

 have been made to aid the movement for the strengthening of agri- 

 cultural education and research through the more definite formulation 

 of agricultural science and the more thorough training of agricultural 

 experts. For this purpose the work of this Office, in connection with 

 the Graduate School of Agriculture, as described elsewhere in this 

 report, has proved to be unusualh^ successful and effective. Attempts 

 have also been made to call the attention of the agricultural public 

 and the managers of educational systems to the great desirability of 

 making agricultural subjects a part of the curriculum of secondary and 

 elementary schools. The development of the farmers' institutes as 

 eftective agencies for the dissemination of the results of the work of 

 this Department and the experiment stations has also received atten- 

 tion. The agricultural experiment stations under the direct manage- 

 ment of this Office in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico have been put 

 upon a firm basis, and umch progress has been made in developing 

 useful lines of work in these regions. 



The Office has been brought into closer relations with the institu- 

 tions for agricultural research in foreign countries through work 

 involved in the preparation of a bulletin setting forth the organization, 

 resources, and lines of work of these institutions. By this means our 

 knowledge of these foreign institutions has been greatly broadened, 

 and it will be more feasible hereafter to secure definite information 

 regarding their work which will be useful to similar institutions in 

 this country. Both the legal and engineering features of the irri- 

 gation investigations have been enlarged, and a beginning has been 

 made of investigations in other lines of agricultural engineering which 

 have hitherto been neglected l)y this Department. Improvements 



