ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT 



STATIONS, 1009. 



WORK OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The work of the Office of Experiment Stations during the last year 

 has included, as heretofore, the supervision of the expenditures of 

 federal funds by the agricultural experiment stations in the several 

 States; conferences and correspondence with station officers regarding 

 the management, equipment, and work of the stations'", the collection 

 and dissemination of information regarding the progress of agri- 

 cultural education and research throughout the w^orld by means of 

 technical and popular bulletins; the management of the agricultural 

 experiment stations in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Guam ; the 

 promotion of the interests of agricultural colleges and schools and 

 farmers' institutes throughout the United States; special investiga- 

 tions on irrigation and drainage, conducted largely in cooperation 

 with experiment stations, educational institutions, and other agencies 

 in different States and Territories; and the investigation of problems 

 relating to the food and nutrition of man. 



RELATIONS WITH THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The administration of the Adams Act and the closer restriction of 

 the funds appropriated under the Hatch Act, in order to confine them 

 to actual experimental work and investigation, have commanded 

 much attention during the year. 



Many (juestions of detail continue to arise regarding the projects 

 as submitted or as the work under them is developed. There is still 

 too much latitude, in many instances, in the submission of projects. 

 Projects are frequently proposed by station workers, and referred 

 by the directors to the Office for a decision, which from their character 

 should never have gone beyond the director's office. This is sometimes 

 due to carelessness, and sometimes, it is feared, to a failure to dis- 

 criminate critically between undertakings which possess merit as 

 investigations and those which are more economic and superficial and 

 do not embrace research features. This has added materially to the 



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