704 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD, 



lar form. The latter Avas the beginning of the jiresent Department 

 series. 



In the organization of this new Office and the development of its 

 plans for aiding the stations and making their work widely available, 

 Commissioner Colman took a deep interest. It was a realization of 

 a plan which he had early called attention to, and he felt that it was 

 one of the important products of his administration. 



It was through Commissioner Colman's eiforts, also, that the 

 Division of Pomology and the Division of Ornithology and Mam- 

 malogy were established in the Department. The latter was in re- 

 sponse to a demand for an investigation of the damage done to crops 

 and fruits by birds, especially the English sparrow and the rice bird. 

 Provision was also made for studies in vegetable pathology by the 

 formation of a section in the Division of Botany; and in 1887 legis- 

 lation and appropriations were secured which made the work of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry in the control of contagious diseases 

 much more effective. As a result of this, the efforts of the Depart- 

 ment in stamping out pleuropneumonia began to show good progress. 



On February 9, 1889, the Department of Agriculture became one 

 of the executive departments of the Government, and Commissioner 

 Colman was appointed by the President the first Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, retiring with the close of the administration in the following 

 month. 



The period covered by Mr. Colman's administration was one of 

 relatively small things as measured by present-day standards. When 

 he came to the Department its annual appropriation was less than 

 $700,000, and at the close of his administration it received some- 

 thing over a million dollars. But it was a time of important change 

 in the Department. It is noteworthy that he took a broad and ad- 

 vanced view for that time of what such an institution should be, 

 recognizing the need of investigation as a basis for substantial ad- 

 vancement of the industry. This is exemplified in the way he took 

 hold of the movement for experiment stations. He not only sym- 

 pathized with this movement, but he gave it active support, and just 

 how much his influence counted for in securing this legislation has 

 not always been fully appreciated. When the measure had become 

 a law he did not yield to the view that superficial practical work and 

 the popular dissemination of infonnation were the things to be 

 largely encouraged, but he supported higher ideals for the new 

 stations, and he appointed as his representative in the Department's 

 relations with the stations a man who stood for thorough scientific 

 work in the acquisition of reliable agricultural knowledge, of which 

 there had been but little in this country at that period. 



