262 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



France and foreign countries. It will also study and report on methods 

 of packing, preserving, and sliipiDing agricultural products, and will 

 publish the results of scientific investigations in agriculture in France 

 and foreign countries and the proceedings of agricultural societies, 

 syndicates, and other similar bodies. 



Agricultural instruction in the British West Indies is rapidly assum- 

 ing definite form under the supervision of Dr. Morris, Imperial com- 

 missioner of agriculture for the West Indies. At j^resent the sj'stem 

 comprises lectures to teachers in charge of elementar}^ schools, agri- 

 cultural teaching in secondary schools and colleges, and itinerant 

 instruction to planters. The Imperial department of agriculture has 

 issued a text-book on nature study for the use of teachers and has 

 recentl}^ begun the publication of a fortnightlj- review known as 

 Agricultural News. 



Among experiment stations recently established are the Seed Control 

 Station for Forest Seeds in connection with the Royal Prussian For- 

 estry Academj' at Eberswalde ; the Agricultural Exi^eriment Station at 

 Augustenberg, formed by the union of the chemical and botanical 

 stations f ormerlj^ located at Karlsruhe ; a dairy station in connection 

 with the Agricultural Institute at Gembloux, Belgium; an agricul- 

 tural physiological experiment station in connection with the Tech- 

 nical High School at Prague, Austria, and an experimental farm 

 established in the fall of 1900 at Grafton, New South Wales, for the 

 purpose of introducing the dairy industrj'' on the north coast. The 

 department of agriculture of Victoria, Australia, is agitating the ques- 

 tion of establishing experiment stations in place of the existing dem- 

 onstration fields and farms, which, while adequate for the develop- 

 ment of new agricultural industries in Victoria, are not broad enough 

 in scope for a high grade of investigational work. 



Work for the Civil Service Commission, 



The Director of this Office has continued to act as the general repre- 

 sentative of the Department in matters relating to examinations held 

 by the Civil Service Commission for technical and scientific positions in 

 the Department. The number of papers received from the Commis- 

 sion, recorded in this Office, and rated by examiners in the Depart- 

 ment during the year was about 490, as compared with 2G0 last yea.Y. 

 Besides the regular examinations, 37 special examinations were held 

 during the year. The register for scientific aids has been continued 

 and a considerable number of appointments have been made from it 

 during the past year. The examination for "assistant" has been 

 greatly simplified , and as combined with the examination for scientific 

 aid has provided a regular method for the entrance of competent 

 scientific aids into the classified service. Considerable attention was 

 given to the formulating and discussion of plans for the registration 

 of laborers. This resulted in an order issued by the President July 

 2, 1902, regulating the appointment of laborers in the Depai'tment 

 and providing for a board of labor employment, which has been 

 appointed by the Secretary and entered upon its duties. With the 

 growth of the business of the Department and the consequent increase 

 in the number of its employees, the work involved in the relations of 

 this Office with the Civil Service Commission has grown to be consid- 

 erable. 



