EDITORIAL. 103 



During 1900 the stations puhlishodSSiBiiiinual reports and bulletins. 

 Besides regular i-eports and bulletins, a number of the stations issued 

 press ])ulletins. whieh were widely reproduced in the agricultural and 

 county papers. The mailing lists of the stations now aggregate half 

 a million names. 



In his report on the work and expenditures of the stations for the 

 year ended June 30, 1!MK), the Director of this Office makes the fol- 

 lowing general statements: By far the largest part of the work of our 

 stations has direct relation to the important agricultural interests of the 

 conununities in which they are located. The stations are, in fact, very 

 responsive to the inuuediate demands of their farmer constituencies. 

 Their greatest danger is not that thev will undertake too much work of 

 renu)te practical l)earing, but that in the effort to meet the calls made 

 upon them for inuuediate assistance they will attempt individually 

 to cover more fields of investigation than the funds at their disposal 

 will permit them to treat thoroughly. This temptation the stations 

 generalh' are, however, resisting more successfully as their work is 

 becoming better organized and their investigations are more carefully 

 planned and supervised. The nature of their operations is also becom- 

 ing better understood by the farmers, and the desirability of more 

 thorough and far-reaching investigations is much more appreciated 

 than formerlv. A broader and deeper foundation of scientific inquir}^ 

 is ))eing laid each year, and there is a constant accumulation of data 

 regarding the general agricultural conditions of the different regions 

 of the United States. The climate, soil, water supplv, native and cul- 

 tivated plants, injurious insects, fungi, and bacteria are being studied 

 in more detail and with greater thoroughness than ever before. The 

 princ;iples of nutrition of animals and the causes of their diseases are 

 being subjected to more elaborate and fundamental scrutin3^ Meth- 

 ods of investigation and the improvement of apparatus for research 

 are being given increased attention. 



Much of this work is done without public observation and in the 

 intervals of other operations. Without doubt it should receive more 

 definite recognition and encouragement. But it is cause for congratu- 

 lation that so nuich patient labor of this character is being performed 

 by station officers, who, as a rule, are seeking to advance the boundaries 

 of knowledge for useful ends and are not deterred by a multiplicity of 

 duties from giving attention to the more fundamental concerns of 

 agricultural science. And this work is having its effect on the more 

 practical operations of our stations. These arc assuming a more sub- 

 stantial and systematic character and are being conducted with more 

 definite relation to actual conditions. They have, therefore, a greater 

 assurance of successful practical outcome. Questions relating to the 

 introduction of plants or to the improvement of the live-stock indus- 

 try in any region, for example, are now being investigated with a 



