REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



11 



saries of life, results in benefit not only to the farmers, but to every 

 class in the community. The fact is well known that the endowments 

 of most of thc^ State agricultural colleges arc very meager; in several 

 instances even insuflcicnt to maintni?! a creditable educat^'^-nal insti- 

 tution. In such cases expenditures for experimentation are impossi- 

 ble. Yet to do good work a station should have well-appointed build- 

 ings, expensive apparatus, books r-\d. periodicals, and a handsome and 

 certain annual income. Able men should be secured and salaries paid 

 according to the nature of the work. The colleges generally cannot 

 be expected to assume such burdens, and it is probable that the States 

 most needing such statior.:: will bo the last to create theiri, if ever done. 



With a number of well-equipped and fairly maintained stations in 

 as many different States, operating without communication, much less 

 co-operation, and often in diverse lines of inquiry, the results are but 

 a fraction of what they might be if provision were mado for joint 

 effort and harmony of action. As at present conducted, the results 

 of investigation at State stations are usually promulgated by publi- 

 cations which have a very limited distribution, and even where work 

 in a single State is of a character which makes its conclusions gener- 

 ally applicable, the country at large fails to derive any benefit there- 

 from. 



National legislation has been proposed to extend the work of ex- 

 perimental agriculture, establishing it in every State, as well as to 

 strengthen that already in progress, and to make the results of all 

 available to the country at large. Without interfering with the or- 

 ganization and management of State stations, whether at colleges or 

 independent, Federal support may supplement existing agencies, and 

 provide through this Department a certain degree of control to secure 

 co-operation where needed and furnish such a medium of intercom- 

 munication and exchange as to greatly facilitate and improve the 

 work as a whole. 



I referred in a previous report to a convention of delegates from 

 these various colleges and stations, called by me, to develop a system 

 to unify results and make these institutions of greater benefit to the 

 country. Whilo waiting upon Congress for authority and means to 

 execute the design and unanimously expressed wish of these institu- 

 tions, which subject 1 heartily commend as worthy of careful con- 

 sideration, I have commissioned a special agent to visit and inspect 

 experiment stations, in order to ascertain what facilities already exist 

 in this country for systematic experimentation^ what has been actu- 

 ally accomplished, and especially what are the needs for future work. 

 Many data have been collected, and will form the basis of a future 

 report upon the subject. 



There can bei no question of the value of these investigations and 

 experiments if liberally supported and ably conducted, especially in 

 adjusting to its new conditions the agriculture dependent upon the 



