12 AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS IN UNITED STATES 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



Agricultural experiment stations have been established under Federal 

 and State laws in 48 States. There are 50 of these stations, 47 of which 

 are departments of agricultural colleges. In Ohio the station is a separate 

 institution. In New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey there are sepa- 

 rate stations, in addition to those connected with the colleges. In a 

 number of the larger States substations are maintained under State 

 laws. These are mainly engaged in the more practical experiments 

 with crops and live stock to meet special local conditions. 



In 1921 the total income of the stations was about $7,500,000, of which 

 $1,440,000 were Federal funds granted under the Hatch and Adams Acts 

 ($30,000 to each State), about $3,700,000 were State funds, $1,000,000 

 were proceeds of sales of farm products, and about $1,360,000 came from 

 miscellaneous sources. 



The general management of the stations is given by the State legisla- 

 tures to boards of trustees, which generally are also the boards managing 

 the agricultural colleges. Usually the members of these boards are ap- 

 pointed by the governors of the States, but in some States they are elected 

 by the people. The trustees determine the general policy of the stations, 

 pass in a general way on its equipment, work, and expenditures, and 

 appoint its principal officers. 



Governors, State superintendents of education, or commissioners of 

 agriculture are in some States ex officio members of the station board. 



The direct management of the station is committed to a director, who 

 reports to the president or dean of the college. 



The staff consists of scientists and technically trained persons repre- 

 senting different branches of agricultural science and practice. There 

 are also farm superintendents, clerks, laborers, and other helpers. 



About 1,900 persons are employed in the work of the station, of whom 

 more than 1,500 are scientists and technically trained persons. About 

 500 of these give part of their time to teaching or extension work. 



The stations are partly housed in buildings used also by the teaching 

 and extension departments of the colleges and also use portions of the 

 college farms, which often comprise hundreds of acres. But they also 

 have many special buildings, experimental fields, farm machinery, ani- 

 mals, and elaborate equipment devoted entirely to research. 



In the Hatch Act, which grants $15,000 to each State, the work of the 

 stations is denned as follows: 



It shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations to conduct original re- 

 searches or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals; the diseases 

 to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical 

 composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative ad- 

 vantages of rotative cropping as pursued under the varying series of crops; the capacity 

 of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical 

 composition of manures, natural and artificial, with experiments designed to test the 



