200 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 215. 



ture in the land-grant colleges with which 

 the stations are connected. This has been 

 to the advantage of the stations in a num- 

 ber of ways. The buildings and equipment 

 of the colleges have been materially in- 

 creased, and this has given the stations 

 better facilities for their work. The in- 

 struction in agriculture has been specialized, 

 which has necessitated the emploj^ment of 

 a larger number of well-trained officers, 

 many of whom have devoted a portion of 

 their time to station work. The governing 

 boards and general officers of the colleges 

 are coming to see more clearly the real sig- 

 nificance and importance of experiment 

 station work. They have, therefore, been 

 more willing to make proper arrangements 

 for the efficient conduct of this work and 

 to pursue a more liberal policy toward the 

 stations. In a number of instances there 

 has been a more definite separation of the 

 operations on the farms and in the barns, 

 creameries, laboratories, etc., so that a 

 definite place has been made for original 

 investigations in agriculture, and these 

 have been clearly difi'erentiated from the 

 work and facilities connected with instruc- 

 tion. It is coming also to be more clearly 

 seen that care must be taken lest the rou- 

 tine duties connected with instruction shall 

 so exhaust the energies of the officer em- 

 ployed in both college and station that he 

 will not be able to devote his best energies 

 to the more difficult task of originating and 

 conducting successful investigations in ag- 

 ricultural science. The outlook is, there- 

 fore, more hopeful for the building up, in 

 connection with these institutions, of strong 

 departments of original investigation on 

 behalf of agriculture, which shall not only 

 accomplish great good by the practical re- 

 sults of the investigations disseminated 

 among the farmers, but shall also materially 

 aid in the proper development of courses of 

 instruction in agriculture in the land-grant 

 institutions. 



THE ORIGINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE 

 STATIONS. 



The year past has shown considerable 

 progress in the importance and thorough- 

 ness of the original investigations pursued 

 at our stations. The number of officers 

 competent to undertake such investigations 

 has been increased. There has been greater 

 specialization of the work assigned to these 

 officers. There have also been encouraging 

 indications that cooperation between the 

 officers engaged in different lines of inves- 

 tigation is being more efficiently secured. 

 More attention is being given to the con- 

 sideration of problems which affect in a 

 general way important agricultural inter- 

 ests in the several States or are of funda- 

 mental importance in different branches of 

 agriculture wherever pursued. It is be- 

 coming more clear that it is much better 

 for an individual station to undertake 

 thorough original investigations in a few 

 lines and hold steadily to these until defi- 

 nite results are secured than to scatter the 

 work among a variety of small operations. 

 If a station can make itself preeminent for 

 original work in even one or two lines it 

 gains strength in its own State and else- 

 where which it could get in no other way ; 

 and now, that general information regarding 

 the work of all the stations is more widely 

 disseminated, there is less reason why any 

 one station should attempt very many lines 

 of work. The success of those stations 

 which have devoted themselves most largely 

 to original investigations has, without 

 doubt, been a powerful factor in stimulating 

 the general adoption of such a policy. The 

 wisdom of the framers of the Hatch Act in 

 limiting the work of the stations organized 

 under that act to original and scientific in- 

 vestigations which shall either attack ag- 

 ricultural problems in a new way or have 

 reference to the application of ascertained 

 facts or principles to particular or local 

 phases of these problems is more and more 



