NOTES. 413? 



Clemson College. — A. S. Shealey, assistant veterinarian, has been appointed to a 

 position in the Philippines, and will leave for the Islands early in January. 



Utah Station. — Robert S. Northrop, instructor in horticulture at Cornell University, 

 has been appointed horticulturist in the Utah Station, and will enter upon his duties 

 there at once. 



Virginia Station. — Plans have been completed for the erection of a barn to be used 

 exclusively for feeding experiments with beef cattle. This barn will be 120 feet long,. 

 40 feet wide, and will have ample storage capacity above for hay, straw, shredded 

 fodder, and all other forms of dry roughness to be used in these investigations. It is 

 proposed to build two silos at one end of the barn. These silos will be of different 

 types and of moderate capacity, so that different forms of silage can be fed at the 

 same time. Special stalls will be constructed for conducting digestion experiments- 

 The barn will shelter one hundred head of cattle, which can be fed so as to obtain 

 individual record or by lots in pens, as desired. This barn will give the station excel- 

 lent facilities for the investigation of problems relating to the production of beef in 

 Virginia. It is proposed to give special attention to the investigation of questions 

 relating to the economic production and handling of export cattle. Experiments- 

 have been mapped out which will require a period of at least ten years for their 

 completion. 



West Virginia University. — A special four weeks' course for farmers will be given 

 at the university beginning January 9. During the first week a school of methods 

 for farmers' institute workers will be conducted, which will be participated in by 

 John Hamilton, Farmers' Institute Specialist of this Department, and Alva Agee, of 

 Wooster, Ohio. This is the first school for farmers' institute workers to be held in 

 West Virginia. A. session of the school will also be held at Charleston, under the 

 auspices of the university, during the week beginning January 23. The work there 

 will be similar to the week's work at Morgantown, and will be carried on with the 

 assistance of C. D. Smith, of Michigan. 



New Laboratory Bnildings for the Department of Agriculture. — From bids submitted 

 by twenty contractors for these new buildings, with various alternates, that of 

 Ambrose B. Stannard, of New York, has been accepted and the contract awarded to- 

 him. The original bid of $1,206,000 has been reduced by $45,000 on account of 

 eliminating the marble wainscoting and other interior marble trimming, and 

 $10,000 has been added for the substitution of terra-cotta floor construction in lieu of 

 concrete. The amount of the contract as awarded is $1, 171,000. This does not include 

 the heating and ventilating apparatus, elevators, electric wiring, and conduit system, 

 or any laboratory desks or fittings, but includes plumbing. The material accepted 

 for construction is Vermont marble, with Milford Park granite for the base. The 

 floors of the building will be of maple, except in the corridors, where they will be of 

 Terrazzo and marble. The time fixed for the completion of the building is thirty 

 months from the approval of the required bond of $600,000. The work is to begin 

 at once, and under the terms of the contract the buildings should be completed in 

 the spring of 1907. The appropriation for the buildings was $1,500,000, and it is 

 expected that out of the balance the power house and mechanical equipment of the- 

 building can be provided. 



Personnel of the Department of Agriculture. — The annual report of the Secretary 

 shows that the total number of persons constituting the body of the Department of 

 Agriculture ou July 1, 1904, was 4,504, an increase of 2,160 since July 1, 1897. In 

 addition, there are nearly a quarter of a million special correspondents and reporters 

 who, although receiving no financial remuneration from the Department, cooperate 

 with it and render it much valuable service. 



The force of the Bureau of Plant Industry alone has increased in the three years- 

 of its existence nearly 50 per cent. There are now in the Bureau about 500 workers,, 



