260 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERI- 

 MENT STATIONS. 



The fifteenth annual convention of this association was held at 

 Washington, D. C, November 12-14, 1901. The Director of this 

 Office was a delegate and was also reelected bibliographer of the asso- 

 ciation. A number of other officers of the Department attended the 

 convention and took part in its proceedings. The stenographic report 

 of the proceedings was i^repared nnder the supervision of the Director, 

 and has since been edited by him and Mr. W. H. Beal, of this Office, 

 and the chairman of the executive committee of the association, and 

 issued as Bulletin No. 115. 



Reports were made by the committee on methods of teaching agri- 

 culture, indexing agricultural literature, and graduate study at 

 Washington. The Director of this Office has performed a con- 

 siderable amount of work during the past j^ear as a member of these 

 three committees. 



A committee was appointed to prepare a collective college and 

 experiment station exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition, and the 

 Director of this Office was made a member of this committee. 



The committee on cooi^eration between the stations and this Depart- 

 ment made the following report, which was adopted : 



Your committee on cooperation between the stations and the Department of 

 Agriciiltiire would respectfully submit the following report as supplementary to 

 the report of one year ago: 



A year of reflection and observation has strongly confirmed your committee in 

 the belief that the principles for guidance in cooperation between the stations and 

 the Department of Agriculture which were embodied in your committee's report 

 one year ago and adopted by the association are substantially correct. Very 

 satisfactory progress has been made during the year in systematizing cooperation. 

 While it is perhaps unnecessary to add anything to the previous statement of 

 principles, yet a little fuller explanation may not be inadvisable; and yoiu' com- 

 mittee would therefore add the following recommendations: 



First. When cooperation is desired by the station, it is deemed advisable that 

 the proposal for such cooperation be made to the Department by the director of 

 the experiment station. Where, on the other hand, the Dejiartment desires 

 cooperation of the station, it is deemed advisable that the proposal be made in 

 the first instance to the dix"ector rather than to a member of his staff. 



Second. While it is well understood that no financial obligations can be under- 

 taken beyond the end of the fiscal year, yet it should be recognized that any 

 arrangement for joint experimentation which requires some years to conaplete 

 creates a moral oljligation upon both parties to carry the work to a conclusion. 



Third. When a line of investigation has been in progress in any State imderthe 

 auspices of either institution, it is, as a rule, unwise for the other party to under- 

 take independently the same line of investigation, at least until after full con- 

 sultation upon the subject. 



The following resolutions regarding a new building for this Depart- 

 ment were adopted : 



Whereas the United States Department of Agriculture has long since outgrown 

 the single building originally provided for its special use; and 



Whereas this Department has accomplished unmeasured good in the advance- 

 ment of agriculture in these United States; and 



Whereas this division of Government service has been appropriately recognized 

 by advancing its chief officer to the high position of a member of the President's 

 Cabinet: Therefore be it 



Resolved by the Association of American Agricitltnral Colleges and Experiment 

 Stations in convention assembled, That we urge upon Congress the necessity and 

 wisdom of providing a building for the accommodation of the Department of 

 Agriculture, which in magnitude shall be sufficient to amply accommodate for 

 decades to come the still expanding divisions of departmental effort, and which 

 shall properly represent in its architecture the enormous importance of agricul- 



