INTRODUCTORY 2g 



The Hatch Act of 1887, which did so much to place agri- 

 culture on a higher basis by providing for the estabhshment 

 of experiment stations throughout the States, was supple- 

 mented in 1906 by what is known as the Adams Act, after 

 its chief sponsor, Henry C. Adams. Under this act the 

 amount of money to be granted to each State was doubled 

 so that it now aggregates $30,000 per annum for each State.^^ 



As early as 1876, the Department had begun the study 

 of problems relating to forestry. Under an act of Con- 

 gress, approved February i, 1905,^^ the administration of 

 the vast forest reserves in the United States was transferred 

 from the Department of the Interior to the Department of 

 Agriculture. This work has continued to grow, both in 

 scope and importance, as the area of forest reserves has been 

 increased and the need for conserving and enlarging our 

 timber resources has been more clearly discerned. 



Perhaps the most significant and far-reaching piece of 

 agricultural legislation in recent years is that of May 8, 

 1914, commonly known as the Smith-Lever Act.^® By the 

 year 1923, there will be appropriated under this law an 

 annual sum exceeding five million dollars, to be expended in 

 cooperation with state institutions, for practical instruction 

 and demonstration in agriculture and home economics. 

 Under the terms of the act, this large sum must be supple- 

 mented by at least an equal amount appropriated by or on 

 behalf of the States. Wisely expended, such a sum of 

 money should make this measure, "the greatest piece of 

 agricultural legislation ever enacted by any country." 



Another cooperative law of first rate importance is that 

 known as the Federal Aid Road Act, approved July 11, 

 1916.'^" The administration of these and other measures 

 involving cooperation between the Department of Agricul- 

 ture and other governmental agencies will be treated in 

 another chapter.*'^ 



8T34 Stat. L. 63. 

 58 33 Stat. L. 628. 

 "38 Stat. L. 372. 

 «0 39 Stat. L. 355. 



01 Ch^uior iii 



Chapter iii. 



