No. 4.] GERMAN EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 377 



thousand dollars. These stations employ officers engaged 

 in different lines of work, as follows : directors, seventy ; 

 chemists, one hundred and thirteen ; agriculturists, forty- 

 seven ; horticulturists, fifty ; botanists, thirty ; entomologists, 

 thirty-six ; veterinarians, twenty-two ; meteorologists, four- 

 teen : biologists, four ; viticulturist, one ; physicists, four ; 

 geologists, two ; mycologists, three ; microscopists, two ; 

 irrigating engineers, three ; in charge of sub-stations, 

 twenty-six ; secretaries and treasurers, twenty-four ; liljra- 

 rians, seven ; clerks, nineteen. There are forty-three per- 

 sons employed as farmers, superintendents, gardeners, etc. 



The mailing lists now number some three hundred and 

 fifty thousand names, and at a low estimate a total of forty 

 million pages of reading matter upon different agricultural 

 subjects have been circulated among the farmers during the 

 past year. The stations are working substantially along the 

 following lines : twenty-seven are studying meteorological 

 and climatic problems ; thirty-one are in various ways mak- 

 ing a study of the soil ; thirty-five analyzing commercial fer- 

 tilizers and performing experiments in plant feeding ; twenty- 

 five stations are investigating the composition of feeding 

 stuffs, and in some cases making digestion experiments ; 

 twenty-four are making experiments with reference to the 

 production of beef, milk, mutton and pork, and studying 

 different methods of feeding ; at least thirty-three stations 

 are studying the different methods of chemical analysis ; 

 botanical studies in different directions occupy a portion of 

 the time of some thirty-three stations ; thirty-five stations are 

 at work upon different horticultural prol)Iems ; and at least 

 twenty-five stations are pursuing investigations relative to 

 injurious insects, with a view to preventing their ravages ; 

 four stations are giving attention to apiculture ; three to avi- 

 culture ; and six stations are engaged upon problems in sugar 

 production. 



Differences between German and American Stations. 



The Germans are in advance of us, in that they not only 

 subject commercial manurial substances to a critical inspec- 

 tion, but commercial feed stuffs and varioiis seeds as well. It 

 is earnestly to be hoped that those who are guarding the 



