WILBUR OLIN ATWATER. 1^5 



Connecticut the unds were divided between two experiment 

 stations and Professor Atwater was made director of the Storrs 

 Station and retained this position for fourteen years. During 

 this period a relatively large amount of scientific work along 

 chemical lines and other lines related to agriculture was carried 

 on by the station. Of especial interest were Professor Atwater's 

 studies on the acquisition of atmospheric nitrogen by plants, 

 begun several years prior to the establishment of the Storrs 

 Station and continued as a part of the work of that station from 

 1888 to 1892. 



On the invitation of Commissioner Colman, of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Professor Atwater consented 

 to become the first director of the Office of Experiment Stations, 

 established in the Department of Agriculture for the general 

 direction of the agricultural experiment station movement, 

 accepting this position on the condition that he be permitted to 

 retain the directorship of the Connecticut Storrs Station and his 

 college professorship at Wesleyan University. That this Bureau 

 has in later years followed with great success the general poli- 

 cies laid down by Professor Atwater is a proof of his wisdom 

 and foresight in establishing this work. 



A long list of articles in scientific and popular journals, in 

 publications of the Connecticut Storrs Experiment Station and 

 United States Department of Agriculture, etc., shows the contri- 

 butions which Professor Atwater has made to the development 

 of agricultural chemistry and agricultural education. Espe- 

 cially noteworthy is the establishment of the series of farmers' 

 bulletins in 1889 under his advice and direction, a class of pub- 

 lications which has become of the greatest importance for the 

 dissemination of information along agricultural lines. He was 

 also founder of the Experiment Station Record, an abstract 

 journal published in the Office of Experiment Stations, of which 

 the first volume appeared in 1889. This journal covers the 

 field of agriculture and related sciences and its circulation 

 among students and investigators is world wide. 



The influence of Professor Atwater on the development of 

 agricultural research in the United States has been greatly 

 broadened through the men who came into direct association 



