LXXVI REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



station in Porto Rico. As soon as this appropriation was made meas- 

 ures were taken for the establishment of the station in Porto Rico. 

 The general supervision of this station was assigned to the Director 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations. As the active manager of the 

 station, Mr. Frank D. Gardner, assistant in the Division of Soils, was 

 selected and appointed special agent in charge of the Porto Rico exper- 

 iment station. He proceeded to Porto Rico about the middle of May, 

 1901, and after spending some time in familiarizing himself with the 

 conditions and needs of agriculture in the island he has arranged to 

 undertake preliminary investigations on coffee culture. 



SELECTION OF EXPERIMENT STATION. 



As regards the permanent location of the experiment station, more 

 difficulty was experienced in obtaining suitable land than was antici- 

 pated. As there is no Government land available, it will be necessary 

 to purchase land for this purpose. An effort has been made to secure 

 donations of land from the municipalities in the island. It was found, 

 however, that either the municipalities possessed no lands that in kind 

 and amount would be suitable for the purpose or that their financial 

 condition would not allow them to purchase land for the station. It 

 was therefore determined that action in this matter should be deferred 

 until the next meeting of the insular legislature, when an effort will be 

 made to secure local financial aid in the establishment of the station, as 

 in the case of the other States and Territories. Meanwhile the head 

 quarters of the station will be maintained at San Juan, and such inves- 

 tigations will be undertaken as can be pursued on lands leased or loaned 

 b}^ residents of the island desiring to engage in cooperative work with 

 the station. Information regarding the agricultural needs of the island 

 and methods which may be adopted for the improvement of agriculture 

 on the basis of our present knowledge will be collated and published, 

 and the people will be aided in this and other ways to improve the 

 agricultural conditions. It is hoped that before the beginning of 

 another fiscal year the question of the permanent location of the sta- 

 tion may be settled and that then it may be possible to proceed rapidly 

 with the erection of buildings, the equipment of the station with appa- 

 ratus, implements, and live stock, and the making of horticultural and 

 other plantations, as well as the institution of experimental inquiries 

 which will place this station on a par with the others in the United 

 States. For the regular maintenance of an experiment station in Porto 

 Rico, as elsewhere, not less than $15,000 will annually be required. I 

 therefore recommend that Congress appropriate this sum for the Porto 

 Rico station for the ensuing" fiscal year. 



AGRICULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



It is, in my judgment, very desirable that agricultural investigations 

 should be undertaken in the Philippine Islands under the War Depart- 



