SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 207. 



determination of soil moisture and lias 

 begun tlie detailed mapping of soil areas 

 adapted to different crops. 



The Division of Forestry has been reor- 

 ganized under its new Chief and will devote 

 itself more largely to experiments on a rela- 

 tively large scale jn the economic manage- 

 ment of forest Jiinds and the reforesting of 

 the Western plains. 



Besides its work on the National Her- 

 barium, the Division of Botany is enlarging 

 its studies of seeds and has recently been 

 charged with the supervision of seed and 

 plant introduction from foreign countries, 

 for which the Department alreadj"- has sev- 

 eral agents at work in dilferent countries. 



The method of crop reporting has been 

 improved under the direction of the present 

 Chief of the Division of Statistics, and special 

 economic investigations, such as those re- 

 lating to the cost of producing a bale of 

 cotton and the world's consumption of 

 wheat, have been undertaken. 



The Section of Foreign Markets has is- 

 sued timely and valuable reports on the 

 commerce of Hawaii, Spain and Puerto 

 Rico. 



The Office of Experiment Stations, be- 

 sides general supervision of the expendi- 

 tures of the 53 experiment stations, prepara- 

 tion of the Experiment Station Record and 

 other publications based on the work of the 

 stations, has had the direction of special 

 investigations on the agricultural capabili- 

 ties of Alaska and on the food and nutrition 

 of man. Recently this office has also been 

 charged with investigations on irrigation, 

 which are to be carried on in cooperation with 

 the experiment stations and State engineers 

 in the irrigated region. In connection with 

 the nutrition investigations, the Atwater- 

 Rosa respiration calorimeter has been so 

 far perfected that " not only the nutritive 

 value of the food consumed, but also its re- 

 lation to the heat and energy evolved by 

 the human body during periods of rest and 



work have been measured with a complete- 

 ness and accuracy hitherto unknown." 



The examination of the work and expen- 

 ditures of the agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions by the Office of Experiment Stations 

 during the past year has shown that these 

 institutions are, as a rule, working more 

 thoroughly and efficiently than ever before 

 for the benefit of American agriculture. 

 More than six hundred persons are em- 

 ployed in the work of administration and 

 inquiry. About four hundred reports and 

 bulletins were issued by the stations in 1897, 

 which were directly distributed to over half 

 a million addresses, besides being widely 

 reproduced in the agricultural and county 

 papers. The appropriation of $720,000 from 

 the National Treasury for the support 

 of the stations was supplemented by State 

 funds aggregating over $400,000. 



" The need and value of scientific re- 

 searches on behalf of agriculture are now 

 very clearlj'^ understood, and the number 

 and importance of institutions organized 

 for this work are constantly increasing in 

 all parts of the world. Nowhere has so 

 comprehensive and efficient a system of ex- 

 periment stations been established as in the 

 United States. In the scope and amount of 

 their operations, and in the thoroughness 

 with which the useful infoi-mation they ob- 

 tain is disseminated among the farmers, 

 our stations are unsui-passed. During 

 the ten years which have elapsed since 

 the Hatch Act went into effect a very 

 large amount of accurate information of 

 direct practical benefit to our farmers has 

 been published by the stations. Not only 

 have the numerous bulletins and reports of 

 the stations been freely distributed in all 

 parts of the country, but many valuable 

 books largely based on the work of the sta- 

 tions have been written for the farmer's 

 use, while the agricultural press has busily 

 collated and disseminated a vast amount of 

 information directly relating to the work 



