702 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Commissioner Colman was convinced of tliis, as he tells us in his 

 first report, and also of the great need of '"' a more practical coopera- 

 tion between these institutions and the Department of Agriculture. 

 ... In a divided condition and without united purpose work will 

 be often duplicated, experiments will be of local value only, and com- 

 munities alone instead of States will have the benefit of the valuable 

 results of science and practice." 



One of his first administrative acts, therefore, only a month after 

 taking office, was to call a meeting of delegates from the agricul- 

 tural colleges and experiment stations, to be held at the Department, 

 the first official gathering of the kind held in this country and the 

 forerunner of the present Association of American Agricultural Col- 

 leges and Experiment Stations. In his call for this meeting he said : 

 " The value of experiments in agriculture is due largely to the uni- 

 formity of methods by which they are made, and it is believed that 

 by the comparison of methods which such a convention will permit, 

 much can be done to simplify and unify the processes now in use. 

 Much valuable time and a great deal of money are now lost in desul- 

 tor}^ and unmethodical experiments, which by concerted action among 

 the various stations and colleges of the country, could be made 

 productive of great good." 



The jjroceedings of. this first convention, held July 8 and 9, 1885, 

 clearly show how fully Commissioner Colman was warranted in calling 

 such a meeting and in his belief in the opportunity for more united 

 action. The convention was attended by delegates from every section 

 of the country, and the discussion covered a wide range of subjects 

 and represented a variety of views. A stenographic report of its 

 proceedings, now of much historic interest, was published by the 

 Department. 



Commissioner Colman delivered an opening address, in the course 

 of which he presented forcefully and intelligently the need for ex- 

 perimental work in agriculture and the need of the farmer for " a 

 knowledge of the laws — the definite and unvarying principles of 

 physical science, as far as ascertainable," and he impressed upon the 

 agricultural colleges their duty in this direction. "In my judg- 

 ment," he said, " there is nothing which will attract and rivet the 

 attention of the great agricultural public to our agricultural colleges 

 so much as experimental work. Farmers will hope and expect to be 

 benefited pecuniarily by work of this character conducted at the agri- 

 cultural college farms in their respective States." 



Various measures had been suggested in Congress for establishing 

 stations in connection with the land-grant colleges, and a measure 

 known as the Cullen bill, similar in its general provisions to the 

 Hatch Act, had been introduced. Among the first things which the 

 convention did was to adopt a resolution setting forth " that the con- 



