1102 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



As the Experiment Station Record was established soon after the 

 agricultural experiment stations in the United States had completed 

 their organization or reorganization under the Hatch Act, it contains 

 an account of practically everything which the stations have done dur- 

 ing the ten years in which they have received the support of the 

 National Government. It would be interesting to review the history 

 of their operations during this period, and to show in some detail how 

 their operations have increased in number, variety, and importance; 

 but this is too large a task to be undertaken at this time. There are, 

 however, a few salient features of the development of the experiment 

 station enterprise in this country to which it may be well to call atten- 

 tion in closing our record of their operations during the first decade 

 under the Hatch Act. 



The most obvious indication of the success of experiment stations as 

 a means for improving agricultural conditions in this country is the 

 steady increase in the number of stations and station officers, and in 

 the amount of financial support which they have received from the 

 National and State governments. In the first volume of the Eecord 

 (p. 117) it is stated that in 1889 there were 46 stations in the United 

 States receiving an aggregate revenue of about $725,000, of which 

 $000,000 was appropriated from the National Treasury and $ 1135,000 

 was received from State governments and other local sources. The 

 total number of persons engaged in the work of the stations and at 

 this Office that year was 402. In 1898, the last year for which statistics 

 have been compiled, the total number of stations was 54. Their total 

 income was somewhat over $1,200,000, of which $720,000 was received 

 under the Hatch Act (in addition to $35,000 for this Office) and $480,000 

 from State governments and other local sources. The number of offi- 

 cers had increased to G69. 



With the increase in the number of the stations and the enlargement 

 of their resources there has been a corresponding increase in the num- 

 ber and variety of their publications, and these have been more thor- 

 oughly distributed each year. Besides the vast amount of agricultural 

 information which has thus been generally diffused among our farmers, 

 either directly through station publications or indirectly through the 

 public press, more than fifty books on strictly agricultural subjects 

 have been written by station men during the past ten years, and the 

 results of the work of the stations are being largely incorporated in 

 books whose' authors are not connected with the stations. It requires 

 only a superficial retrospect to discover a very remarkable differ- 

 ence in the freshness of material and the thoroughness of treatment 

 of the published information available to our farmers ten years ago and 

 that which is at their command to-day. It is most encouraging to 

 observe that, despite the pessimistic predictions in certain quarters, the 

 output of carefully prepared books for the farmer's use has notably 

 increased within the past few years, and American books for the 

 American farmer are written from an American standpoint and on the 

 basis of accurate information obtained by American investigators. 



