REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. LXXVII 



ment. unci in cooperation with this Department. The need of such 

 investigation is illustrated by the fact that such an important crop as 

 rice, the leading breadstuff of the island, is not at present produced in 

 sufficient quantities to supply the local demands. The growing of 

 rice is better understood by the people generally than any other crop, 

 yet by their primitive methods of culture and crude implements they 

 are unable to adequately supply their own necessities. Of agricul- 

 tural products — mostly food stuffs — up to 1890 there were imported 

 annually more than $4,000,000 worth, while the exports amounted to 

 about $14,000,000, principally hemp, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. 

 Under the Spanish Government attempts were made to establish agri- 

 cultural schools, experiment stations, and model farms, but these insti- 

 tutions do not seem to have exerted any important influence for the 

 improvement of agriculture, and since the American occupation have 

 been largely discontinued. 



In instituting agricultural investigations in the Philippines it is 

 desirable, in my judgment, to follow the precedents already made in 

 the cases of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico — that is, a preliminary 

 investigation should be made to determine where the experiment 

 station should be located and what subjects it should first undertake 

 to investigate. With headquarters for agricultural investigations 

 once established and a single experiment station well organized, it 

 would be easy to extend the work of agricultural research so that it 

 would take into account the special needs of different localities. In 

 order that there may be no delay in establishing the station after the 

 preliminary investigation is completed, I recommend that an initial 

 appropriation of $15,000 be made for the ensuing fiscal year to enable 

 me to institute agricultural investigations in the Philippines, and if 

 feasible to locate and maintain an agricultural experiment station 

 there. In order that these investigations may be begun at an early 

 day, one-third of this amount should be made immediately available. 



AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



Considerable progress has been made during the past year in broad- 

 ening and strengthening the agricultural courses in our agricultural 

 colleges. The movement for the division of the general subject of 

 agriculture into specialties to be taught by different instructors still 

 continues. The committee on methods of teaching agriculture of the 

 Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Sta- 

 tions, of which the Director of the Office of Experiment Stations is a 

 member, has completed its syllabus for a college course in agriculture 

 by presenting courses in agrotechny (especially dairying), agricultural 

 engineering, rural economics, animal husbandry, soil physics, plant 

 pathology, and agricultural chemistry. Thus far, comparative^ little 

 attention has been given to several of these branches of agricultural 



