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The following letter was written in reply to questions addressed to 

 the Director of this Office. They were : 



First. Can the experiment station fund, or a portion of it, be properly 

 used for the purpose of organizing farmers' institutes or clubs, and thus 

 perfecting an organization among the farmers of the State ; or more 

 generally, can the fund, or a portion of it, be properly used for any pur- 

 pose except that of conducting original research or verifying experi- 

 ments'? 



Second. What item of experimeut station expenditure, in the opinion 

 of the Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, and in the light 

 of his experience with American and European stations, is likely to be 

 the largest one ? 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Office of Experiment Stations, 



Washington, I). C, June 5, 1890. 



Dear Sir : In response to the inquiries of yours of May 29, permit me to say : 



First. Section 2 of tlie act of March 2, 1887, providing for the establishment of 

 agricultural experimeut stations, makesit "the object and duty of said experiment 

 stations to conduct original researches or verity experiments " on subjects related to 

 agricultural industry, due regard being had to the conditions of the States aud Ter- 

 ritories in which the several stations are established. Section 5 provides that the 

 grants made by Congress for the snjiport of the stations shall be used for " paying 

 the necessary expenses of conducting investigations and experiments, and print- 

 ing and distributing the results," and for buildings. 



While reasonable discretion would, in my judgment, be permissible in deciding 

 how the purposes thus clearly defined may be carried out by the stations in the use 

 of the grant from the Government, it is certainly very clear that the employment of 

 that "fund, or any considerable portion of it, for the purpose of organizing farmers' 

 clubs and perfecting in this way an organization among the farmers" of a State, or 

 indeed any material diversion of the fund for objects other than those mentioned, 

 would be improper. 



Second. My experience with agricultural experiment stations in this country and 

 in Europe, to which you refer, iudicates that the chief item of exi^enditure in con- 

 ducting the work of the stations, "supposing them to be fairly well equipped," is 

 likely to be, aud certainly ought to be, for the employment of trained men to conduct 

 the experiments and investigations with which these institutions are charged. 



The success of the stations in meeting the practical wauts of the farmers will be 

 proportioned to what they discover of the laws that uuderlie the practice of farming. 

 For this purpose scientific research is the great esseutial. What the stations most 

 need is the labor of trained investigators, of competent specialists in the lines of in- 

 quiry called for by the wants of the agriculture of their respective localities. 



Of course, means for doing the work and disseminating the results are essential, 

 and wise discretion must be used in the distribution of the fund for these purposes. 

 But experience has justified the general practice of the best stations, by which the 

 largest item of expense is made that of employment of capable workers. 

 Very respectfully, 



W. O. Atwater, 



Director. 



