STATE EXPERIMENT STATION 205 



letters on current business, but also in response to inquiries 

 respecting the organization and work of the station that have 

 come from Boards of agriculture, official committees and 

 interested individuals in eight other states, and in answers to 

 a great variety of questions on the value or use of fertilizers 

 and kindred topics from practical farmers in this state not 

 only, but in many others, from Maine to Texas. 



It was undoubtedly through this phase of his work 

 that Professor Johnson came to see so clearly the real 

 needs of the country and how the stations should be 

 developed to meet them. 



For five years the station was housed in rooms 

 loaned by the governing board of the Sheffield Scien- 

 tific School. In spite of small means and cramped 

 quarters, the institution was able to demonstrate its 

 usefulness. Creditable beginnings were made in sev- 

 eral lines of research. Professor Johnson inspired 

 these and aided in their prosecution; he also devoted 

 much skill and ingenuity to developing and perfecting 

 laboratory methods of analysis, many of which are 

 standard processes today. 



In 1882, the station moved into a house of its own, 

 with an annual appropriation increased to eight thou- 

 sand dollars; and, under a new fertilizer law, the 

 license fees paid by all dealers in fertilizers in the 

 state also became a part of its income. 



In 1887, the passage by Congress of a bill popularly 

 known as the Hatch act granted Federal funds to the 

 State experiment stations, and provided for a central 

 advisory bureau under the control of the Department 

 of Agriculture. The first ''object and duty" of an 

 experiment station mentioned in the Hatch act is "to 

 conduct original researches or verify experiments on 



