office of expeeim£nt stations. 263 



Publications of the Office. 



During the year the Office issued 39 documents, aggregating 3,768 

 pages. These include 9 numbers of the Exi^eriment Station Record, 

 16 technical bulletins, 2 reports, 6 Farmers' Bulletins, 2 circulars, and 

 4 articles for the Yearbook of the Department. There were also 57 

 articles, aggregating 1,257 pages, published as separates. Two other 

 numbers of the Experiment Station Record and 6 bulletins, contain- 

 ing 1,116 pages, were prepared and submitted to the Division of Pub- 

 lications during the year. The plan has recently been followed of 

 combining smaller articles on related subjects in larger reports and 

 bulletins for limited circulation and employing separates to supply 

 additional demands for the individual articles. This results in a saving 

 of labor and expense and at the same time secures a more effective 

 distribution of the publications. The lack of funds for printing 

 during a portion of the j^ear retarded the publication of a number of 

 documents prepared in this Office during the period covered by this 

 report. 



The several reports annually made to Congress by this Office were 

 the past year combined in one document, entitled the Annual Report 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations. It was hoped that this would 

 secure more prompt and economical publication of this material and 

 do away with the necessity for the passage of several joint resolutions 

 by Congress to iDrovide for the printing of different documents as 

 hitherto. In transmitting this report to Congress it was recommended 

 that provision be made for printing it annually. No action was taken 

 on this recommendation, and even the resolution for the printing of 

 the rejDort for last year failed to pass the House of Representatives. 

 As it is quite important that the officers of the agricultural colleges 

 and experiment stations be provided with copies of this rejiort from 

 year to year, I recommend that efforts be continued to secure the con- 

 sent of Congress to a measure providing for its annual printing. 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The Experiment Station Record, containing a comprehensive 

 review of the literature of agricultural science, as well as editorials on 

 matters of particular interest, special articles, and notes covering a 

 wide range of subjects related to agriculture, has been published as 

 heretofore under the general editorial management of Dr. E. W. Allen, 

 assistant director of the Office. In Volume XIII, which has been com- 

 pleted, considerably more space has been devoted to editorials and 

 notes than formerly. Increased attention has been paid to the items 

 published under the latter head. These have included facts concern- 

 ing the current Avork of the experiment stations and changes in their 

 staffs, notices of new journals, brief summaries of the proceedings of 

 various associations, comments on agricultural education and investi- 

 gation in foreign countries, personal items, and many other subjects 

 of sijecial interest to readers of the Record. In order to enable the 

 publication of more material in the space available, the abstracts 

 have been printed wholly in brcAder type, instead of in long primer 

 and brevier as in earlier volumes. This method, while permitting the 

 publication of much more material, has greatl}' increased the labor 

 involved in the preparation of the Record. Notwithstanding the use 

 of smaller type it is still difficult to find sufficient space for adequate 

 abstracts of even the more important articles in the rapidly iucreas- 



