STATION ORGANIZATION. 21 



permanent policies, and it may well be that the Office could accom- 

 plish much good by cultivating closer relations with the boards of 

 control. This matter should certainly be considered in future plans 

 for the operations of the Office. 



Progress is being made in the separation of the offices of president 

 of the college and director of the station. During the past year the 

 office of director has been separated from that of president in Nebraska, 

 North Carolina, and New Hampshire. In New Mexico and Tennessee, 

 where the president retains the directorship, a vice-director has been 

 appointed to have general charge of the station business. In South 

 Dakota the president of the college has recently been made acting 

 director, but it is understood that this is only a temporary arrange- 

 ment pending the selection of a new director. Excluding South 

 Dakota, there are at present 10 States and Territories in which the 

 college president performs the functions of director of the experiment 

 station. It is hoped that this number will be further reduced during 

 the coming year. 



Progress has also been made in securing for station officers better 

 opportunities for prosecuting the work of research without undue 

 hindrances arising from duties as teachers in the colleges. 



In a number of instances newly appointed officers of the experiment 

 stations have no duties as teachers in the college, and in other instances 

 changes have been made by which the amount of teaching required of 

 station officers has been materially reduced. Experience is each year 

 showing more conclusively that if station officers are to accomplish 

 the best results in agricultural investigations, their research work must 

 be made their primary business, before which routine duties of every 

 kind must give way as the conditions of the ' original work demand. 

 Our most successful stations are now managed on the principle that 

 they constitute university departments of the colleges, that they are 

 thus at the summit of our system of agricultural education, and that 

 they must be managed on the same principles as the great scientific 

 laboratories in the universities are conducted; that is, their officers 

 must be the best-trained experts in their respective lines, and they 

 must be able to devote their time and energy quite fully to their 

 investigations. They should not be expected to do any considerable 

 amount of teaching, especially in the elements of the sciences. If 

 thev- go into the class room at all, it should be rather to lay before 

 advanced students the methods and results of the investigations which 

 they are conducting. Undoubtedly, the financial exigencies of many 

 of our agricultural colleges will for some time prevent the attainment 

 of this ideal in station management, but we may reasonably expect 

 that wherever increases in the resources of these institutions will 

 permit, changes in this direction will be made in the management of 

 the stations. 



