HOME ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION 687 



Hatch Act provided that $15,000 a year shall be given out of the 

 funds proceeding from the sale of public lands to each State and 

 Territory for the establishment of an agricultural experiment sta- 

 tion, which must be a department of the land-grant college, except 

 in the case of those States which had established experiment sta- 

 tions as separate institutions prior to the passage of the act. (Y. B. 

 1899.) 



The growth of the stations as regards their number and re- 

 sources is shown by the following general statistics for the earlier 

 years of their operation under the Hatch Act (1887), as compared 

 with those for the year 1910. In 1888 there were 46 stations in 38 

 States and one Territory with an aggregate income of $720,000; in 

 1910 62 stations in every State and Territory reported a total rev- 

 enue of over $3,000,000. (Y. B. 1899, 1910.) 



In general the work of the agricultural experiment stations, as 

 organized in this country, may be classified as follows: (1) They 

 act as bureaus of information on many questions of practical inter- 

 est to the farmers of their several localities; (2) they seek by prac- 

 tical tests to devise better methods of agriculture and to introduce 

 new crops and live stock, or to establish new agricultural industries ; 

 (3) they aid the farmer in his contest with insects and with diseases 

 of his crops and live stock; (4) they help to defend the farmer 

 against fraud in the sale of fertilizers, seeds, and feeding stuffs; (M 

 they investigate the operations of nature in the air, water, soil, 

 plants, and animals in order to find out the principles which can be 

 applied to the betterment of the processes and products of agricul- 

 ture. (Y. B. 1894.) 



These forces devoted to agricultural education and investiga- 

 tion should be utilized to the utmost by our farmers to the end 

 that their sons and daughters may be educated to a better citizen- 

 ship and higher efficiency; that farm practice may be improved; 

 that new and important phases of agriculture be developed. This 

 means not only profit and benefit to the individual, but prosperity 

 and advancement for the State which has generously recognized the 

 importance of fostering the farming industry by establishing and 

 aiding the work here described. (Purdue Univ. Bui. 107.) 



The experiment station enterprise in this country has in it the 

 potency of a vast influence of the greatest of the industries; it is to 

 be an important permanent feature of the system of institutions for 

 education and research. (Ex. S. Circ. 30.) 



The Experimental Union opens up a channel through which 

 some of the best material of the Experiment Station can be brought 

 to the homes of the farmers. It makes direct application of the in- 

 formation gained at the college by having experiments conducted 

 on hundreds and even thousands of farms, and it systematizes the 

 co-operative work in such a way that the results of those experi- 

 ments which have been conducted with care and accuracy can be 

 summarized and made into valuable reports for the guidance of 

 farmers generally. It introduces improved methods of farming 

 along various lines. It combines, in an admirable way, the training 



