EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XV. May, llto^. No. 9. 



The bill making appropriation for the National Department of Agri- 

 culture was passed hy Congress April 23. It carries a total appropri- 

 ation of $5,902,0-1:0, an increase of $423,940, which, while it is somewhat 

 less than the annual increase for several years past, will provide for a 

 continued steady growth of the Department. The above comparison 

 does not take account of the emergenc}' appropriation made last year 

 for eradicating foot-and-mouth disease, a portion of which, amounting 

 to a quarter of a million dollars, was made available earlier in the ses- 

 sion for combating the cotton-boll weevil. The increase for the coming 

 year is not tis generall}" distributed throughout the Department as it 

 has been in some years, about nine-tenths of the increase being for the 

 Weather Bureau and the Bureaus of Animal Industry, Forestry, Plant 

 Industry, and Chemistry, in the order named. 



The Weather Bureau receives $1,337,740, an increase of about 

 $89,000, which applies mainh' to salaries and general operating 

 expenses. The Bureau of Animal Industry is given $50,000 additional 

 for its inspection and investigation work, and $25,000 for experiments 

 in animal breeding and feeding in cooperation with the State experi- 

 ment stations. Its total for next year is $1,362,880. The Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, which has grown rapidly since its organization, 

 receives a relatively large increase — $69,500 — distributed quite gener- 

 ally among its different lines of work, and making a total of $744,430. 

 The first appropriation for this Bureau after its organization four 

 years ago was $231,680, exclusive of the $250,000 for seeds, which is 

 now assigned to it. Its appropriation for investigation — i. e., exclu- 

 sive of the seed fund — has therefore considerably more than doubled 

 ill the past four ^-^ears. In addition to its regular appropriation, the 

 Bureau will this A^ear receive quite a share of the emergency appro- 

 priation for combating the cotton-l)oll weevil. For investigations in 

 vegetal)le patholog}' and ph3'siology there is an increase of $20,000 

 and provision for erecting a greenhouse; and for work in pomologj", 

 out of a tottd of $43,500, a new provision allows the expenditure of 

 $10,000 in cooperation with the California Station, for determining the 

 adaptability of various grape stocks to the different soil and climatic 

 conditions of the Pacific Coast, and their resistance to disease. The 



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