96 The State and the Farmer 



Congress established a system of agricul- 

 tural colleges in 1862. It established a system of 

 experiment stations in 1887. It elevated the 

 Department of Agriculture into an executive 

 department of government in 1889. The col- 

 leges and experiment stations are state institu- 

 tions, since the federal funds are given to the 

 states. They constitute, however, the federal 

 agricultural agents in the states. The federal 

 organization is the Department of Agriculture. 

 The concern of the colleges of agriculture has 

 been largely the increasing of the productive- 

 ness of farming by teaching this phase of the 

 subject and by inquiring for new truth. The 

 duty of the experiment stations is necessarily 

 to discover truth to the end that the land may 

 yield more abundantly. The prime function 

 of a national department of agriculture, as of 

 other centralized government bureaus, is reg- 

 ulatory or supervisory. It deals with distinctly 

 national questions, that is, with governmental 

 questions. The United States Department of 

 Agriculture, however, undertakes technical 

 investigational work in the states, which may 



