THE WORK OF THE AGRICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENT STATION 



L. H. SMITH, Chief in Charge of Publications of the Soil Survey 



T IS my privilege to review the work of this Experiment 

 Station since its foundation and to present briefly its out- 

 standing accomplishments. The Illinois Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station was organized in 1888. For a record of 

 its achievement one naturally turns to its published re- 

 ports. I find that during the thirty-four years of its ex- 

 istence there have been published 237 Bulletins and 19 Soil Reports, 

 aggregating altogether 9,806 pages of printed matter. This may, for 

 present purposes, be taken as a quantitative measure of its scientific 

 output. I am sure you will appreciate the compound problem that I 

 have before me; first, in selecting from this array of material that 

 which is most significant, and second, in presenting the same in the 

 allotted time. : 



Following the custom of the experiment station investigator to 

 do his work, as well as his thinking, within somewhat discreet units 

 known as "departments," I have decided to take up the consideration 

 before us somewhat on the departmental plan. For our purpose, how- 

 ever, we need not make our departments quite so "watertight" as 

 critics of the system have sometimes implied it to be. Therefore, for 

 convenience in considering all this experimental work that covers such 

 a wide range of subjects, suppose we take up these investigations under 

 the following groups: soils, plants, animals, and farm organization. 

 This system is sufficiently comprehensive, and it would seem to be a 

 logical one, for first, we must have the soil in order to grow plants ; 

 then we must have the plants in order to raise animals; and finally, 

 there should be some sort of a correlating agency, such as a department 

 of farm organization. Moreover, this grouping has an advantage for 

 the particular purpose in hand, over one based upon the existing plan 

 of departmental organization, in that much of the past work that we 

 are to consider was not done by the departments as they now exist; 

 and it would not be altogether fair for them to assume either the 

 credit or the responsibility. 



SOIL INVESTIGATIONS 



Taking up that subject first that lies at the foundation of all pro- 

 duction, let us make a hasty survey of those investigations pertaining 

 to the soil. 



37 



