Aprit 12, 1901.] 
The appropriation act makes frequent 
mention of cooperation between the differ- 
ent divisions of the Department and also 
with the agricultural experiment stations. 
The establishment of the Bureau of Plant 
Industry will favor the extension of the co- 
operation and will assist in adjusting the 
lines of work and preventing any tendency 
to duplication. 
Of the new bureaus the Bureau of Plant 
Industry receives the largest appropriation, 
namely, $231,680. The amounts appro- 
priated for the different lines of investiga- 
tion in charge of this bureau, aside from 
certain salaries, are $60,000 for investiga- 
tions in vegetable pathology and physio- 
logy, $20,000 for pomological investigations, 
$45,000 for botanical investigations and 
experiments, $20,000 for grass and forage 
plant investigations, $20,000 for seed and 
plant introduction, $7,000 for tea-culture 
experiments (an increase of $2,000), and 
$20,000 for gardens and grounds. The 
total appropriation for the Bureau of Plant 
Industry represents an increase of $61,900 
over the combined appropriations for the 
previous year of the divisions associated in 
it. A new feature of the botanical investi- 
gations is the study of useful plants of the 
tropical territory of the United States, 
together with plants likely to be of value 
for introduction into those sections. Fur- 
thermore, investigations are to be made on 
‘the varieties of wheat and other cereals 
grown in the United States and suitable for 
introduction, in order to standardize the 
naming of varieties as a basis for experi- 
mental work of the State experiment sta- 
tions and as an assistance in commercial 
grading’; and in cooperation with the 
Bureau of Chemistry, the cause of deteriora- 
tion of export grain, particularly in oceanic 
transit, is to be investigated, together with 
means of preventing such loss. Special 
mention is made in the appropriations for 
this bureau of the employment of scientific 
SCIENCE 
573 
aids, a class of employees drawn from the 
agricultural colleges, which has previously 
been arranged for in the Department. 
The Bureau of Forestry receives $185,- 
440, an increase of $105,440 over the pre- 
vious year. The appropriation for the 
Bureau of Soils is $109,140, which is an in- 
crease of $77,840. This is to enable an ex- 
tension of the tobacco investigations, which 
remain in charge of this bureau, and the 
investigation and mapping of soils in the 
United States. The Bureau of Chemistry 
receives $35,800, and in addition to its other 
duties is charged with the investigation of 
food preservatives and coloring matters ‘ to 
determine their relation to digestion and to 
health and to establish the principles which 
should guide their use.’ 
The Weather Bureau receives increased 
appropriation for general maintenance, and 
$46,000 for the erection and equipment of 
buildings in six different places, and for 
laying a cable between the mainland and 
Tatoosh Island, Washington, making the 
total appropriation $1,148,320. The main- 
tenance fund of the Bureau of Animal In- 
dustry is increased $50,000, and the inspec- 
tion work is extended to include dairy. 
products intended for exportation to foreign 
countries. Such products, the same as 
meats, may be marked, stamped or labeled, 
so as to secure their identity and indicate 
their purity and grade. This is an en- 
tirely new provision, which it is hoped will 
tend to place American products on a 
better footing in foreign markets. An ap- 
propriation of $25,000 is made, in addition 
to one of $50,000 last year, for animal 
quarantine stations, giving a total for the 
bureau of $1,154,030. 
The appropriations for agricultural ex- 
periment stations have reached the sum of 
$789,000, including $33,000 for the Office 
of Experiment Stations, as heretofore, and 
$12,000 each for stations in Alaska, Ha- 
waii and Porto Rico. The Hawaii station 
