246 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



and compilations of information on a great variety of agricnltiiral topics. They 

 are also giving mucli attention to the dissemination of information through the 

 agricultural press by means of press bulletins and special articles. The number 

 of books prepared by officers of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations 

 is constantly growing, and these range all the way from elaborate scientific trea- 

 tises to very elementary and popular works. 



Undoubtedly, much progress has been made in recent years in acquainting our 

 farmers with the results of experiment station work, and it is obvious even to the 

 superficial observer that the results of the work of the stations are being from 

 year to year more generally applied on farms in different parts of the country. 



But while this is true, there is still a great amount of ignorance regarding the 

 work of the stations, and especially regarding the ways in which results obtained 

 by the stations may be applied on the farm. While the spread of education and 

 the spirit of progress among our farmers within the past few years has been very 

 remarkaiile, there is still a mass of ignorance and false conservatism w^hich in the 

 aggregate constitutes a vast dead weight on oiir agriculture. As long as 100 out 

 of every 1 .000 men of voting age on our farms are unable to either read or write 

 (as is shown to l)e the case by the censiis of 1900) it is not to be expected that the 

 publication of the results obtained at our experiment stations through printed 

 documents will suffice to meet the needs of our agricultural population regarding 

 the progress of the art. Even those farmers who are accustomed to read ordinary 

 books and newspapers are often not prepared to understand and appreciate the 

 station publications because of lack of the necessary preliminary information. To 

 supplement the station puljlications and liring the resiilts of their work more 

 directly home to the farmer, the stations have felt obliged to participate largely 

 in the farmers' institutes now so generally held in many of our States. While 

 this work has, strictly speaking, been outside their province, at least as deter- 

 mined by the Federal'law under which most of them are organized, it has never- 

 theless been an efficient means of strengthening their position and securing the 

 confidence and support of their farmer constituencies. The problem is, therefore, 

 how to develop the farmers' institute movement in its relation to the stations so 

 as to make the institutes more efficient and at the same time to prevent their 

 interfering too much with the duties of station officers as investigators and writers. 



Statistics of the stations. — Agricultural experiment stations are now in opera- 

 tion under the act of Congress of March 2, 1887, in all the States and Territories 

 and in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico. In Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, 

 Hawaii, Missouri, Alabama, and Louisiana separate stations are maintained 

 wholly or in part by State funds. A number of substations are also maintained 

 in different States. Excluding the substations, the total number of stations in 

 the United States is 60. Of these, 54 receive appropriations provided for by act 

 of Congress. 



The total income of the stations during 1901 was $1,231,881.55, of which $720,000 

 was received from the National Government, the remainder, $511,881.55, coming 

 from the following sources: State governments. $290,305,95; individuals and com- 

 munities, $1,580.59; fees for analyses of fertilizers, $82,322.40; sales of farm prod- 

 ucts, $98,363.98; miscellaneous, $44,308.63. In addition to this, the Office of 

 Experiment Stations had an appropriation of $125,000 for the past fiscal year, 

 including $12,000 for the Alaska experiment stations, $10,000 for the Hawaiian 

 investigations, $5,000 for the Porto Rican investigations, $15,000 for nutrition in- 

 vestigations, and $50,000 for irrigation investigations. The value of additions to the 

 equipment of the stations in 1901 is estimated as follows: Buildings, $133,420.77; 

 libraries, $26,303.49; apparatus, $15,309.48; farm implements, $13,085.45; livestock, 

 $18,220.29; miscellaneous, $25,025.10— total, $231,364.58. 



The stations employ 688 persons in the work of administration and inquiry. 

 The number of officers engaged in the different lines of work is as follows: Direct- 

 ors, 52; assistant and vice-directors, 17; chemists, 146; agriculturists, 62: animal 

 husbandmen, 14; horticulturists, 78; farm foremen, 21; dairymen, 31; botanists, 

 49; entomologists, 48; zoologists, 6; veterinarians, 29; meteorologists, 14; biolo- 

 gists, 7; physicists, 5; geologists, 5; mycologists and bacteriologists, 21; irrigation 

 engineers, 8; in charge of substations. 12; secretaries and treasurers, 29; libra- 

 rians, 11; and clerks and stenographers, 43. There are also 77 persons classified 

 under the head of " miscellaneous," including superintendents of gardens, grounds, 

 and bixildings; apiarists; vegetable, plant, and animal pathologists; herdsmen; 

 poultrymen, etc. 



Three hundred and twenty -five station officers do more or less teaching in the 

 colleges with which the stations are connected. 



The activity and success of the stations in bringing the results of their work 



