LEGISLATION REGARDING THE DEPARTMENT. 49 



LAW ESTABLISHING AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



[Hatch Act, March 2, 1887.] 



AN ACT to (establish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the colleges established in 

 the several States under the provisions of an act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty- 

 two, and of the acts sapplementary thereto. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That in order to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the 

 peojile of the United States useful and practical information on subjects connected 

 with agriculture, and to promote scientific investigation and experiment respecting 

 the principles and applications of agricultural science, there shall be established, 

 under direction of the college or colleges or agricultural department of colleges in 

 each State or Territory established, or which may hereafter be established, in accord- 

 ance with the provisions of an act approved July second, eighteen hundred and 

 sixty-two, entitled ''An act donating public lands to the several States and Terri- 

 tories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts," or any of the supplements to said act, a department to be known and desig- 

 nated as an ''agricultural experiment station:" Provided, That in any State or 

 Territory in which two such colleges have been or may be so established the appro- 

 priation hereinafter made to such State or Territory shall be equally divided between 

 Buch colleges, unless the legislature of such State or Territory shall otherwise direct. 



Sec. 2. That it shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations to conduct 

 original researches 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 com- 

 parative advantages of rotative crofjping as pursued under a 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 or artificial, with experiments designed 

 to test their comparative effects on crops of different kinds; the adaptation and 

 value of grasses and forage plants; the composition and digestibility of the different 

 kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved 

 in the production of butter and cheese ; and such other researches or experiments 

 bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States as may in each 

 case bo deemed advisable, having due regard to the varying conditions and needs of 

 the respective States or Territories. 



Sec. 3. That in order to secure, as far as practicable, uniformity of methods and 

 results in the work of said stations, it shall be the duty of the United States Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture to furnish forms, as far as practicable, for the tabulation of 

 results of investigation or experiments; to indicate from time to time such lines of 

 inquiry as to him shall seem most important; and, in general, to furnish such advice 

 and assistance as will best promote the purpose of this act. It shall be the duty of 

 each of said stations annually, on or before the first day of February, to make to the 

 governor of the State or Territory in which it is located a full and detailed report of 

 its operations, including a statement of receipts and expenditures, a copy of which 

 report shall be sent to each of said stations, to the said Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 and to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. 



Sec. 4. That bulletins or reports of progress shall be published at said stations at 

 least once in three months, one copy of which shall be sent to each newspaper in the 

 States or Territories in which they are respectively located, and to such individuals 

 actually engaged in farming as may request the same, and as far as the means of the 

 station will permit. Such bulletins or reports and the annual reports of said 

 stations shall be transmitted in the mails of the United States free of charge for 

 postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General may from time to time 

 prescribe. 



Sec. 5. That for the purpose of paying the necessary expenses of conducting inves- 

 tigations and experiments and printing and distributing the results as hereinbefore 

 prescribed, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars per annum is hereby appropriated to 

 21091— No. 3 4 



