70.. 



entitled nt the time tlie act was passed. It provided that the whole of the money 

 received from the sale of these lands should be invested in safe securities and 

 the interest only used for the maintenance of the coUeije referred to. 



The individual States were required to furnish the necessary land and build- 

 ings for these institutions, so that the money received from the land granted 

 might be preserved in full as a permanent and substantial endowment fund to 

 be used only for maintenance purposes. Nine million six hundred thousand 

 acres of i)ublic lands were tlius aitpropriated, from which a large fund has 

 accumulated. 



During the next few years a college of agriculture and mechanic arts was 

 established in accordance with the i)rovisions of the land-grant act iu nearly 

 every State in the Union, the land and buildings being furnished by the. State 

 or by the liberality of the cities or towns in or near which these institutions 

 were located. In many instances there was associated with the teaching college 

 an experimental farm, where nniny useful lines of work were conducted. 

 Experiments were carried on in connection with dairying and in the feeding of 

 c-attle. sheep, and swine; to test the usefulness of different fertilizers when 

 ai)plied to crops, and to ascertain the relative value of many va'-ieties of grain, 

 grasses, and other fodder crops. Varieties of fruits and vegetables were also 

 tested with the object of finding out in each case the most profitable sorts for 

 the farmers to grow. 



After some years of experience it was found that a teaching staff could not 

 satisfactorily discharge its duties to the students and at the same time carry 

 on experimental work with the care and thoroughness which its imi)ortance 

 demanded. The teaching was imperative, as the students were gathered ]iri- 

 marily for instruction. The exi)eriniental work was taken up as opportunity 

 offered, and under such conditions satisfactory progress could seldom be made. 

 At the same time the importance of experimental work pressed on the minds of 

 those who realized how much might thus be done to help the working farmer. 

 Then separate experiment stations began to be organized \\hose orticers were to 

 give their whole time and attention to this worlc, and the advantages attending 

 this coui'se were soon manifest. Public oi)inion favored the extension of such 

 work, and in 1887 the Hatch bill was passed by the United States Congress, 

 which, by a liberal yearly grant from the Federal Treasury, provided for the 

 support of a well-organized experiment station in each State and Territory in 

 the Union. 



These stations were rapidly organized, and with the further aid of State 

 appropriations were soon actively engaged in many useful lines of exi)eri- 

 ments bearing on the upbuilding of agriculture. During the seventeen years 

 which have since passed a vast fund of useful information has been accumulated 

 and given to the farmirig public in reports and bulletins, and the practice of 

 agriculture has thus been assisted in every direction. With a small army of 

 workers engaged in the attempt to solve the various problems which prove a 

 hindrance to the farmer, progress has been rapid, and in every line of agricul- 

 tural work, conducted under all the varying conditions of climate found in this 

 country, patient investigators have made numerous experiments with the laud- 

 able object of finding out how the practice of farmers might be improved and 

 the profits of their liusiness increased. Toward this end the teaching colleges 

 have also lent their influence and aid. The country may well feci proud of 

 these excellent institutions, which have been established on so permanent a 

 basis, and the re])reseutatives of both these useful organizations, assembled here 

 to confer together and to discuss matters bearing on the welfare of agriculture, 

 should feel gratified at the high position to which experimental agriculture has 

 attained in the United States. 



It would be unpardonable were I to fail to refer to the great work which the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washington has done to stimulate the progress of 

 agriculture. Much of this work has been of a highly scientific character and 

 much of it thoroughly practical. The liberality which the country has shown 

 in the increase of appropriations made for this purpose is remarkable, and, as 

 far as I know, without a parallel. The sum ai)propriated in 1886 for defraying 

 all the expenses connected with all branches of the work carried on by the 

 Department was $408,810, while in 1003 it amounted to the enormous sum of 

 §^5.013.000. In the meantime the number of officers in the main divisions of the 

 work has been largely increased and the divisions subdivided. IMany new lines 

 of work have been taken up and investigations conducted in nearly every part 

 of the United States and its colonies. 



