530 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



stations feel they can afford, without crippling some lines of research 

 for which there is pressing need. There is hardly a station whose 

 publications are not paid for by the State that does not have to -with- 

 hold material from publication for lack of funds, and this is one of 

 the places where relief is much needed. 



While the number of bulletins and reports issued by the stations 

 has remained practically the same for ten years past, the combined 

 mailing list has increased more than one-third, necessitating a corres- 

 ponding increase in the size of the editions. The list now aggregates 

 685,300 names. It varies greatly, of course, ranging from 1,500 in 

 the case of the Alabama Canebrake Station, to 45,000 in the case of 

 the Ohio Station and 45,500 in the case of the New York State Station. 

 The Michigan Station has 35,000, Massachusetts 32,000, North Caro- 

 lina 20,000, and Illinois over 25,000; while Kansas, Mississippi, 

 Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas each have 20,000 or over. Thirty- 

 six of the stations have from 9,000 to 10,000 names or over, and 

 twenty-three stations have over 12,000 names on their mailing lists. 

 The average for all the experiment stations, excluding one small 

 station which has no regular mailing list, is considerably over 13,000 

 names. 



During the past fiscal year the stations issued 393 bulletins and 

 reports, exclusive of circulars, pamphlets, newspaper bulletins, and 

 the like. These regular publications aggregated 15,093 pages oi ...ut- 

 ter, which, considering their general character, represent a very cred- 

 itable contribution to the sum of agricultural information. The 

 aggregate number of these bulletins and reports distributed to persons 

 on the mailing lists was approximately six and one-half million copies 

 during the year. This does not include, of course, the very considera- 

 ble number sent out by every station to applicants not on their regular 

 mailing lists, nor does it include the newspaper bulletins issued in 

 considerable numbers by several of the stations, or other more fugi- 

 tive publications for which we have no returns. Nineteen circulars 

 were issued in an aggregate edition of 322,000 copies. 



When it is considered that in addition to these publications and to 

 responding to a large and increasing correspondence, experiment sta- 

 tion men last year devoted 2,131 days to farmers 7 institute work, and 

 gave instruction in various branches of agriculture to about 10,000 

 students, it will be seen that as an agency for the dissemination of 

 information relating to improved methods of agriculture and the prog- 

 ress of agricultural investigation, the experiment stations of this 

 countiy are a very potent factor, and are in a position to wield a very 

 broad influence for good. 



