390 



The desirability of making the processes ami results of European 

 investigations available to station workers and others interested in 

 agricultural science in this country, has long been recognized by this De- 

 l)artment and has been urged in its annual reports and other publica- 

 tions. The realization of the plans of this Officein this direction has, 

 however, been unavoidably delayed. Its present resources will only 

 allow of the preparation of abstracts of a few articles from European 

 sources for each number of the Record. It is proposed to select a 

 limited number of the more important European publications in which 

 investigations in agricultural science are reported and from these to 

 prepare brief accounts of such inquiries as are most intimately connected 

 with the work of our stations in certain lines. As experience shows 

 what will best meet the needs of the stations and as larger means are 

 provided for this purpose it is hoped to furnish our station workers 

 with a more adequate and satisfactory review of the European 

 inquiries. 



The abstracts of reports of European investigations in the present 

 number of the Kecord were prepared by Dr. E. W. Allen of this Office, 

 who is devoting himself especially to this line of work. 



In the table of contents of the present number of the Record an 

 attempt is made to classify under certain general heads the subjects of 

 the articles in the station publications abstracted. It is believed that 

 this will make the subject matter of the Record more accessible, espec- 

 ially to those interested in particular lines of station work. 



It is not always easy to determine in which of a limited number of 

 general categories an article should be put. Many of the experiments 

 recorded in the station publications include observations in different 

 lines, and for this reason any condensed classification of them, such as 

 is practicable in a table of contents, will be more or less unsatisfactory. 

 The thorough analysis of the multitudinous details of the recorded 

 operations of the stations can only be made in an extended index. Such 

 an index was published for the first volume of the Record, and it is 

 intended to follow this up for each succeeding volume. 



Volume I of the Record contains abstracts of all the bulletins of 

 1889 received by this Office from the stations in the United States. The 

 present purpose is to include in the Record abstracts of the annual 

 reports of the stations, as well as of their bulletins. The rule is to 

 publish the abstracts in the order in which the publications are received. 

 Various considerations may, however, make departure from this rule 

 desirable or necessary. The annual reports of the stations for 1889, 

 which it was impracticable to include in the first volume of the Record 

 are now being taken up with the other publications. The varied con- 

 ditions under which the station publications are issued contribute to 



