EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XXVI. April, 1912. No. 5. 



One of the classes of publications provided for when the experi- 

 ment stations were established was the annual report. This was 

 designed to supply a record of progress from year to year, giving 

 the operations of the station and the use made of its funds as a public 

 institution. Made to the governor of the State, the report was to be 

 a public document for the benefit of both state and federal officers, 

 and for the information of the experiment stations in other States. 

 In practice it was usually given a wider circulation. 



Wliile originally an important publication in most States, more 

 permanent in character than the bulletins, of late it has come to 

 occupy a quite insignificant place at many of the stations, and in the 

 case of a considerable number is gradually dropping out of sight 

 entirely. A hasty examination discloses the extent to which this 

 tendencj^ has already gone. Two stations have published no reports 

 since 1902, one none since 1903, and another since 1901, The last 

 date for several institutions is 190G, and for a larger number it is 

 1908. Some of the stations have signified their intention of making 

 up the missing numbers, and others, after skipping three or four 

 years, now state that the annual report has been discontinued. 



The uncertainty of the policy in this respect has been a great in- 

 convenience to many libraries which attempt to preserve complete 

 files of the station publications. Especially is this the case where 

 the bulletins and reports are bound by years or other stated periods. 

 The loose numbers must be kept indefinitely, entailing risk of loss, 

 and the reports must be written for periodically in the effort to 

 complete the volumes. 



The fact that an annual report was one of the requirements under 

 the Hatch Act has apparently been lost sight of or ignored. At a 

 number of stations it has always been treated in a rather perfunctory 

 manner, which only partially met the expectations of a " full and 

 detailed report "" of the station's operations and finances, and this 

 practice has been on the increase. In the form which was becoming 

 increasingly common, it could not be said to be of much interest or 

 permanent value as a record, and was hardly missed except by bibliog- 

 raphers and librarians when it was discontinued. 



As a reason for the discontinuance of the annual report the excuse 

 may be advanced that the stations are heavily burdened with work, 



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