8 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



cured by these stations and their recommendations have effected valu- 

 able improvements in the agricultural practice of their respective 

 localities. 



In 1894 the state experiment stations were specifically authorized 

 by Congress to include the study of the food of man in their inquiries 

 and instructed to report their progress to this Department. An 

 ajDpropriation was also made of $10,000 " to enable the Secretary of 

 Agriculture to investigate and report upon the nutritive value of the 

 various articles and commodities used for human food." The prose- 

 cution of this inquiry was assigned to the Office of Experiment 

 Stations, which had already instituted work in collating information 

 regarding the methods and results of food investigations in this 

 country and in Europe. The enterprise subsequently became a part 

 of the regular work of the Office and has contributed largely to the 

 available fund of technical and popular data on nutrition, and to the 

 introduction of studies along this line into the curricula of a large 

 number of colleges and schools. 



The purpose of the nutrition investigations has been to study the 

 use as food of the products of farm, ranch, and garden and to bring 

 the results obtained to the attention of housekeepers and thus help 

 them in making the best, most rational, and most economical use of 

 their available resources; and to provide material for the teacher, 

 physician, and others who need accurate information on food and 

 nutrition in their professional work. Very many questions have 

 been studied and the results obtained have been of decided value to 

 the producer of food supplies and to those who manufacture, handle, 

 and market them, as well as to the housekeeper, the teacher, and the 

 professional man. 



The respiration calorimeter, an instrument of precision for measur- 

 ing the total income and outgo of matter and energy in experiments 

 with man, has been perfected, found useful for a great variety of 

 experimental work, and extensively and profitably employed for 

 such piu-poses. Later developments of this instrument are forms 

 suited to the study of problems of vegetable physiology and other 

 questions of interest in connection with the work of the Department. 



A total of 132 nutrition publications have been issued, of which 62 

 are technical bulletins. The publications as a whole have been in 

 much demand, their total distribution to the close of the fiscal year 

 1915 being 16,305,800 copies, of which 15,952,150 copies were farmers' 

 bulletins. 



The scope of this work was increased in 1914 to include similar 

 studies of agricultural products in their relation to clothing and 

 other uses in the honie. This extension was brought about very 

 largely in response to the demands of housekeepers, educators, and 



