204 



SCIENCE. 



[N. g. Vol. IX. No. 215. 



POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AND THE INJURY 

 TO SOME STATIONS THEREBY. 



While as a rule our stations have been 

 free from the baneful influence of the intro- 

 duction of political considerations into their 

 management, there ai-e still some States and 

 Territories in which politics have been a 

 disturbing element in the affairs of the sta- 

 tions during the past year. This has re- 

 sulted in unreasonable changes in the mem- 

 bership of the governing boards, the re- 

 moval of efficient ofl&cers without cause or 

 on inconsequential pretexts, and, in a few 

 cases, in the appointment of notoriously in- 

 competent men as station officers. This 

 Department has consistently held that 

 where such an unsettled state of affairs ex- 

 ists the real objects of the Hatch Act can 

 not be attained, since these involve, first of 

 all, a corps of competent specialists working 

 under a well-defined policy, outlined to 

 cover a series of years of interrupted inves- 

 tigation, and having an assuranee that their 

 work will be judged on its merits. It was 

 not hesitated to protest against the action 

 of governing boards wherever there was a 

 plain case of violation of the proper princi- 

 ples of station management. The communi- 

 ties which permit such things, of course, reap 

 their reward in the weakness or inefiiciency 

 of the operations of the stations. The rem- 

 edy lies very largely with the people, and 

 every effort should be made to form intelli- 

 gent public sentiment on this subject. 



AGRICULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS IN ALASKA. 



For the past two years Congress has in- 

 cluded in the appropriation for agricultural 

 experiment stations an item for investiga- 

 tions regarding the agricultural capabilities 

 of Alaska, with the special object of deter- 

 mining the desirability and feasibility of 

 establishing agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions in that Territory. With the first year's 

 appropriation a preliminary agricultural 

 and botanical survey of Alaska was made, a 



report on which was transmitted to Con- 

 gress. The results of this reconnoissance 

 were so encouraging that the appropriation 

 for this work was doubled, and during the 

 present year not only has the survey been 

 continued, but reservations of land have 

 been made at Sitka, Kadiak and Kenai in 

 Cook Inlet, and some successful experi- 

 ments in growing and maturing barley, 

 oats, flax, potatoes and other vegetables 

 have been made, and excellent clover and 

 grasses have been grown under cultivation. 

 The detailed report of this work will soon 

 be transmitted to Congress, and it is hoped 

 that hereafter Alaska will receive at least 

 the same financial support for experiments 

 in agriculture as is given to the other por- 

 tions of the United States by the National 

 Government. 



EXPERIMENT STATION IN HAWAII. 



The Hawaiian Islands having been an- 

 nexed to the United States, the question of 

 the development of their agriculture tlirough 

 experimental inquiries, conducted on the 

 same plan as in other parts of the United 

 States, has become an important one. It 

 seems proper, therefore, in this connection 

 to call attention to the fact that an experi- 

 ment station has been in successful opera- 

 tion at Houolulu since 1895. This station 

 is under the direction of the Hawaiian 

 Sugar Planters' Association, which supplies 

 the funds for its maintenance. The Direc- 

 tor and Chief Chemist is Dr. Walter Max- 

 well, formerly an assistant in the Division 

 of Chemistry in this Department, and later 

 one of the chemists of the Louisiana Exper- 

 iment Stations. The other members of the 

 staff are two chemists and a field assistant. 

 This station has studied especially the 

 problems relating to the culture of sugar 

 cane and the manufacture of cane sugar, 

 but there have also been experiments with 

 fertilizers, and a comprehensive investiga- 

 tion of the soils of the Islands. The results 



