EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XXIII. August, 1910. No. 2. 



The four American experiment stations located outside of the con- 

 tinental United States illustrate anew the universality of certain 

 fundamental problems in agriculture, and the broad application of 

 the experiment-station idea alike in the Tropics and the far- north, 

 to primitive and to highly specialized conditions of production. 

 These stations, located successively in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, 

 and Guam, are making noteworthy progress in both practical and sci- 

 entific lines, and. like the state stations, are already proving essen- 

 tial elements in the rational development of the agriculture of their 

 respective localities. From their isolation and the character of their 

 publications their work is less familiar than that of the home sta- 

 tions, but it possesses many features of general, and some of special, 

 interest. 



AVhen these stations were established diversification was adopted 

 as the general aim in each case. This has been continued as the most 

 profitable policy where agriculture is so slightly developed as in 

 Alaska, so specialized as in Hawaii and Porto Rico, and so primitive 

 as in Guam. Naturally much of the work at each station has been of 

 an elementary nature, but fundamental problems have been recog- 

 nized as calling for thorough-going investigation and the adaptation 

 of the results of inquiry to the special conditions presented. 



One of the important lines of work has been a study of the soils. 

 Soil investigations in the Tropics and in Alaska are of special 

 importance, since the conditions are quite unlike those of temperate 

 climates where most soil studies have been made, and generalizations 

 based on earlier work are not applicable except in a very restricted- 

 way. 



In Porto Rico there are areas in cane fields, pineapple plantations, 

 and coffee estates where the soils appear fertile, so far as ordinary 

 physical and chemical examinations go, but fail to produce profitable 

 crops. Such soils are variously designated as " tired " or " sick '' and 

 in most cases are not benefited b}^ ordinary applications of fertilizers. 

 Plants grown on these soils exhibit some of the conditions of mosaic 

 diseases, a lack of chlorophyll in parts of the leaves, followed by a 

 browning of the tissues. Investigations showed that these soils con- 

 tain an excessive amount of butyric acid formed by the fermentative 



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