OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 185 



performance. Unless this is done and close supervision is exercised, the inspec- 

 tion work is inevitably a drain upon the resources of the station and a hindrance 

 to its more important operations. 



While our stations have from the beginning been engaged in inspection work, 

 and this has met with increasing popular favor because of its efficient perform- 

 ance, it is still doubtful whether it is the best ultimate arrangement. Almost all 

 our experiment stations are organic parts of educational institutions. As such 

 they are essentially university departments devoted to research and the dissemi- 

 nation of new knowledge. To a certain extent they may naturally and properly 

 engage in the various forms of university extension work through their more pop- 

 ular publications and connection with farmers' institutes, etc. They are organ- 

 ized to conduct investigations on a great variety of subjects, and the scope of their 

 work of investigation can be almost indefinitely extended as their funds increase. 

 They do not need, therefore, to go outside of that work which would be univer- 

 sally considered within their rightful domain as departments of colleges and uni- 

 versities in order to secure a wide field of operation. On the other hand, as the 

 range of inspection service enlarges and its duties become more onerous and com- 

 plicated it becomes very questionable whether this service should be connected 

 with our educational institutions. It is essentially a part of the police functions 

 of the State and National governments. It involves many questions on which 

 sooner or later the courts will have to pass. It may even excite public attention 

 to such an extent as to be reckoned worthy of consideration by the people in their 

 choice of administrative and legislative officers. In many ways tlr.s kind of busi- 

 ness is much more appropriate to bureaus of the State government than to educa- 

 tional institutions. 



Thus far the arrangement by which much of it has been connected with the 

 experiment stations has been largely a matter of convenience, and in many States 

 the amount of work to be performed has been so inconsiderable that it has not 

 seemed worth while to create special agencies for its performance. We have now 

 reached a stage in the development of this work when it is believed that this mat- 

 ter should receive careful attention from the managers of our agricultural col- 

 leges and experiment stations, in order that a sound policy may be established 

 which will provide for the best future development of these institutions. In our 

 judgment this would involve efforts to relieve the colleges and stations of the 

 inspection service rather than to increase its scope at these institutions and make 

 it a permanent portion of their work. 



Statistics of the stations. — Agricultural experiment stations are now in opera- 

 tion, under the act of Congress of March 2, 1887, in all the States and Territories. 

 As stated elsewhere in this report, agricultural investigations in Alaska have been 

 continued with the aid of National funds; an experiment station under private 

 auspices is in operation in Hawaii; and Congress has appropriated $10,000 for the 

 establishment and maintenance of an experiment station under Government aus- 

 pices in Hawaii and $5,000 for a preliminary study of questions relating to the 

 establishment of an experiment station in Porto Rico. In each of the States of 

 Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York a separate station is maintained wholly 

 or in part by State funds; in Louisiana three stations are thus maintained; and in 

 Alabama two— the Canebrake and Tuskegee stations— are maintained wholly by 

 State funds. Excluding the branch stations established in several States, the 

 total number of stations in the United States is 57. Of these, 52 receive appro- 

 priations provided for by act of Congress. 



The total income of the stations during 1900 was $1,170,857.78, of which 

 $719,999.07 was received from the National Government, the remainder, $450,858.71 , 

 coming from the following- sources: State governments, $247,281.46; individuals 

 and communities, $2,420.51: fees for analyses of fertilizers, $70,927.31; sa'es of 

 farm products, $90,088.84; miscellaneous, $40,140.59. In addition to this, the Office 

 of Experiment Stations had an appropriation of $45,000 for the past fiscal year, 

 including $12,000 for the Alaskan investigations. The value of additions to the 

 equipment of the stations in 1900 is estimated as follows: Buildings, $89,416.23; 

 libraries, $10,784.70; apparatus, $19,397.85; farm implements, $17,015.86; livestock, 

 $22,009.10; miscellaneous, $8,850.94— total, $167,474.68. 



The stations employ 693 persons in the work of administration and inquiry. The 

 number of officers engaged in the different lines of work is as follows: Directors, 

 71; chemists, 143; agriculturists, 74; experts'in animal husbandry, 14; horticul- 

 turists, 75; farm foremen, 24; dairymen, 30; botanists, 55; entomologists, 50; 

 veterinarians, 29: meteorologists, 16; biologists, 6; physicists, 7; geologists, 6; 

 mycologists and bacteriologists, 17; irrigation engineers, 7; in charge of substa- 

 tions, 10; secretaries and treasurers, 27; librarians, 10, and clerks, 51. There are 

 also 30 persons classified under the head of ''miscellaneous," including superin- 



