Nalioiial Scientific and Educational Institutions. 343 



THE HATCH ACT.' 



[Forty-ninth Conjjress, second session, chapter 31.1, Statutes of tlic United States, Vol. XXIV, 



pafie 440.] 



AN ACT to establish agricultural experiment stations in connection with tlic colleges established 

 in the several States under the provisions of an act approved July second, eighteen hundred and 

 si.vty-two, and of the acts supplementary thereto. 



/>V it enacted by tJie Senate and House of Representatives of ttic United Slates of 

 ylnierica in Conj^ress assembted , That in order to aid in acquiring and diffusing 

 among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects 

 connected with agriculture, and to promote scientific investigation and experiment 

 respecting the principles and applications of agricultural science, there shall l)e 

 establi.shed, under direction of the college or colleges or agricultural department of 

 colleges in each State or Territory established, or which may hereafter be established, 

 in accordance with the provisions of an act approved Jttly second, eighteen htmdred 

 and sixty-two, entitled "An act donating ptiblic lands to the several States and Ter- 

 ritories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts," or any of the supplements to said act, a department to 1)e known and desig- 

 nated as an "agricultural experiment station:" Provided, That in any vState or Ter- 

 ritory in which two such colleges have been or may be so established the appropria- 

 tion hereinafter made to stich vState or Territory shall 1)e equally divided between 

 such colleges, vinless the legislature of such State or Territory shall otherwise direct. 



vSkc. 2. That it shall be the object and duty of said experiment .stations to conduct 

 original researches or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals; 

 the di.seases to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the .same; 

 the chemical composition of useftil plants at their different .stages of growth; the 

 comparative advantages of rotative cropping as ptir.stied under a varying series of 

 crops; the capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of .soils and 

 water; the chemical composition of mantires, natural or artificial, with experiments 

 designed to test their comparative effects on crops of different kinds; the adaptation 

 and value of gra.sses and forage plants; tht^ composition and digestibility of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions 

 involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such other researches or experi- 

 ments l)earing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States as may in 

 each ca.se be deemed advisable, having due regard to the varying conditions and 

 needs of the respective States or Territories. 



vSkc. 3. That in order to secure, as far as practicable, uniformity of methods and 

 re.stilts in the w'ork of said stations, it .shall be the dtity of the United States Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture to furnish forms, as far as practicable, for the tabulation of 

 results of investigation or ex])eriments; to indicate, from time to time, such lines of 

 iiKjuiry as to him .shall .seem mo.st important; and, in general, to furni.sh .such advice 

 and assistance as will best promote the purposes of this act. It shall be the duty of 

 each of said stations, annually, on or before the finst day of February, to make to the 

 governor of the State or Territory in which it is located a full and detailed report of 

 it.i operations, including a .statement of receipts and expendittires, a copy of which 

 report shall be .sent to each of said stations, to the said Commi.ssioner of Agricidtm-c, 

 and to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 



Skc. 4. That bulletins or reports of progress shall be publi.shed at .said .stations at 

 least once in three months, one copy of which shall be .sent to each newspaper in the 

 States or Territories in which they are respectively located, and to such individuals 

 actually engaged in farming as may request the same, and as far as the means of the 



' Introduced in the House of Representatives in iSS5by thelTon. William H. Hatch 



of Missoiu'i, and approved ])y President Cleveland, I\Iarch 2, 1S87. 



