OFFICE OF EXPEEIMENT STATIONS. 247 



before the public contimie unabated. During the year they published 445 annual 

 reports and bulletins, which are many more than are required by the Hatch Act. 

 These were supplied to over half a million addresses on the regular raailing lists. 

 A larger number of stations than formerly supplemented their regular publica- 

 tions with more or less frequent issues of press bulletins, and most of the stations 

 report a large and constantly increasing correspondence with farmers on a wide 

 variety of topics. 



During the year a number of new institutions for investigations in 

 agriculture have been established. The Virginia State board of 

 agriculture has established at Saxe, Charlotte County, an experi- 

 mental farm for tlie purpose of making fertilizer tests in accordance 

 with the State fertilizer law. The Mississippi legislature has appro- 

 priated $13,000 for a new substation which has been located at 

 McNeill on a 2,000-acre tract of donated land. A new Texas substa- 

 tion, for which the State legislature appropriated $10,000, has been 

 located at Trouije, in Smith Count5^ The Kansas experiment station 

 has finalh" come into possession of 3,500 acres of the Fort Hays Reser- 

 vation and has established there a substation supported bj- State 

 funds. The Agricultural Epitomist experiment station has been 

 recently established at Spencer, Ind., on a farm of 500 acres, owned 

 and conducted by the company which publishes the Agricultural 

 Epitomist. 



COOPERATION OF THE STATIONS WITH THE DEPARTMENT. 



During the past year many cooperative enterprises between the 

 different Bureaus and Divisions of this Department and the experi- 

 ment stations have been continued and conti-acts have been made for 

 a considerable number of new investigations on this plan. The 

 methods of arranging and conducting such operations have been 

 more clearly defined. As a result of experience, the following plan 

 for arranging for cooperative work between the stations and the 

 Department was formulated by the Secretary of Agriculture and com- 

 municated to the stations, as well as to the chiefs of the Department: 



(1) The chiefs of the Bureaus or Di-visions in the Department desiring coopera- 

 tion with the stations shall bring the matter to the attention of the director or 

 other proper officer of the station, outlining briefly the line of work it is intended 

 to pursue, and suggesting the designation of someone in the station who can take 

 up the preliminaries with the representative of the Bureau or Division and arrange 

 matters for final action by the Department and the station authorities. 



(2) As soon as all preliminaries are arranged, a draft of the agreement should 

 be prepared and submitted for the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture on 

 the one hand and the iwoper officer of the station on the other. Under this agree- 

 ment, the responsibility of both the Department and the station being clearly set 

 forth, the men who are to do the work will be free to carry it out in such manner 

 as in their judgment may seem best, keeping, of course, clearly ^\^thin the lines of 

 the contract. By a general adoption of this plan many of the difficulties hereto- 

 fore encountered can be overcom.e, and there will be in all cases a clearly defined 

 understanding as to the responsibilities of all parties concerned. 



(3) For the purpose of keeping the records complete, one copy of the signed 

 agreement shall be filed with the chief of the Bureau or Di^-ision cooperating and 

 another with the director or proper officer of the station, and copies of all agree- 

 ments shall also be furnished to the Office of Experiment Stations, this Depart- 

 ment, and to the men in both the station and the Bureau who are to carry out 

 the work. 



As the number of calls for cooperative work have increased, it has 

 become clear that in many instances the limited funds of the stations 

 will not permit them to give any direct financial support to any con- 

 siderable number of such enterprises. The only contribution they 

 are often able to make is the limited service of officers already largely 



