OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 181 



SUPERVISION OP EXPENDITURES. 



The sixth annual examination of the work and expenditures of the 

 agricultural experiment stations which receive the National funds 

 appropriated under the act of Congress of March 2, 1887 (Hatch Act), 

 with special reference to the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900, was made 

 during the past year in accordance with the authority conferred upon 

 the Secretary of Agriculture by Congress, and a report of this investi- 

 gation was prepared for transmission to Congress, as required by law. 

 This report was published as House Doc. No. 336 (Fifty-sixth Congress, 

 second session), and a special edition was issued as Bulletin No. 93 of 

 the Office of Experiment Stations and distributed to the governing 

 boards and officers of the stations. 



As heretofore, the report was based upon three sources of informa- 

 tion, viz, the annual financial statements of the stations, rendered on 

 the schedules prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance 

 with the act of Congress; the printed reports and bulletins of the 

 stations, and the reports of personal examinations of the work and 

 expenditures of the stations made during the year by the Director, 

 assistant director, and one other c xpert officer of the Office of Experi- 

 ment Stations. The stations in all the States and Territories have 

 been visited since the previous report was transmitted to Congress. 



The following statements, taken from the report, indicate the general 

 condition of the stations, especially in relation to the terms of the 

 Hatch Act and the appropriation by Congress under that act: 



The icork of the stations as related to practical agriculture. — In making our 

 examination of the work of the experiment stations during the past year we have 

 particularly inquired whether their operations are conducted with special reference 

 to the agricultural needs of their respective States and Territories. The results of 

 this inquiry are embodied in the accountsiof the individual stations given in this 

 report. From these it will be seen that by far the largest part of the work of our 

 stations has direct relation to the important agricultural interests of the commu- 

 nities in which they are locaied. The stations are, in fact, very responsive to the 

 immediate demands of their farmer constituencies. Their greatest danger is not 

 that they will undertake too much work of remote practical bearing, but that in 

 the effort to meet the calls made upon them for immediate assistance they will 

 attempt individually to cover more fields of investigation than the funds at their 

 disposal will permit them to treat thoroughly. This temptation the stations gen- 

 erally are, however, resisting more successfully as their work is becoming better 

 organized and their investigations are more carefully planned and supervised. 

 The nature of their operations is also becoming better understood by the farmers, 

 and the desirability of more thorough and far reaching investigations is much 

 more appreciated than formerly. A broader and deeper foundation of scientific 

 inquiry is being laid each year, and there is a constant accumulation of data 

 regarding the general agricultural conditions of the different regions of the United 

 States. The climate, soil, water supply, native and cultivated plants, injurious 

 insects, fungi, and bacteria are being studied in more detail and with greater 

 thoroughness than ever before. The principles of nutrition of animals ai d the 

 causes of their diseases are being subjected to more elaborate and fundamental 

 scrutiny. Methods of investigation and the improvement of apparatus for research 

 are being given increased attention. Much of this work is done without pnblic 

 observation and in the intervals of other operations. Without doubt it should 

 receive more definite recognition and encouragement. But it is a cause for con- 

 gratulation that so much patient labor of this character is being performed by 

 station officers, who, as a rule, are seeking to advance the boundaries of knowl- 

 edge for useful ends and are not deterred by a multiplicity of duties from giving 

 attention to the more fundamental concerns of agricultural science. And this 

 work is having its effect on the more practical operations of our stations. r ihe: e 

 are assuming a more substantial and systematic character and are being conducted 

 with more definite relation to actual conditions. They have, therefore, a greater 

 assurance of successful practical outcome. Questions relating to the introduction 

 of plants or to the improvement of the live-stock industry in any region, for 

 example, are now being investigated with a strict relation to the real requirements 



