20 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



a year for two years, and Washington $1,250 a year for two years 

 for veterinary work. The Nebraska legislature has appropriated 

 $2,500 for investigations of the cornstalk disease and sorghum poison- 

 ing of cattle. Kansas has appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of 

 pure-bred farm stock, with a view to extending the station work in 

 animal husbandry. New Jersey has provided $3,000 for the inspec- 

 tion of foods and feeding stuffs by the State Station. 



Now that the stations are well organized, appropriations of this 

 character are likely to be most efficient means for increasing their 

 general usefulness to the agriculture of the respective States. Funds 

 so appropriated that they can be expended for particular investiga- 

 tions which may be carried on so as to broadly meet the requirements 

 of the State as a whole, and conducted under the immediate super- 

 vision of the experienced expert officers of the station, are most likely 

 to give results of permanent value and wide application. 



PROBLEMS OF STATION ORGANIZATION. 



Questions relating to the organization of the stations still continue 

 to require the attention of the authorities charged with their manage- 

 ment. In a number of States the organization and general attitude of 

 the governing boards are not yet wholly satisfactory. For various 

 reasons the boards of control as at present constituted are often not 

 able to give close enough attention to the requirements of the stations 

 to thoroughly understand the nature of their operations and the requi- 

 sites for their most efficient work. This may be due to the frequent 

 changes in the membership of the board, to infrequent and short meet- 

 ings of the board, or to mistaken ideas on the part of the board of its 

 proper functions. Under existing conditions no one effectual remedy 

 for these evils is apparent. It may, however, be properly urged that 

 the governors or other appointing officers in the several States should 

 exercise great care in the selection of members of these boards, and 

 should insist that they confine themselves chiefly to the selection of 

 competent expert officers to have the direct management of the stations. 

 It has been suggested that good might result from closer relations 

 between this Office and the boards of control. This could be secured 

 only by having representatives of the Office attend meetings of the 

 boards. It is -possible that an arrangement might be made by which 

 a representative of the Office should visit each station annually at a 

 time when the governing board is in session. This would, however, 

 require a larger expense for traveling than is possible with the present 

 resources of the Office. 



Owing to the increased number of cooperative enterprises between 

 the Department and the stations, it is more than ever important that 

 the management of the stations should proceed on well defined and 



