December 16, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



849 



of the stations or supplementary to it. The 

 contrast between the correct information 

 regarding the principles and practices of 

 his art easilj' obtainable by the farmer of 

 to-day and that available for his prede- 

 cessor a generation ago is very wide and 

 striking." 



The Secretary strongly urges that the 

 stations should more fully devote them- 

 selves to original investigation in behalf of 

 agriculture. 



" Political considerations should have no 

 place in the choice and retention of station 

 officers ; college duties should not be al- 

 lowed to encroach upon the time set apart 

 for original investigation, and the compila- 

 tion of old information should always be 

 made secondary in the acquirement of new 

 knowledge. 



" The stations are not the only means for 

 the education of the farmer. Agricultural 

 colleges, farmers' institutes, boards of agri- 

 culture and various other agencies have 

 been established to instruct the farmer re- 

 garding the present status of agricultural 

 science as applied to his art. It is the 

 business of the experiment stations, on the 

 other hand, to advance knowledge of the 

 facts and principles underlying successful 

 agriculture and to teach the farmer new 

 truths made known by their investigations. 

 The Act of Congress creating the stations 

 clearly defines their functions to be the 

 making and publishing of original investi- 

 gations. Wherever a station has neglected 

 this and merely endeavored to educate the 

 farmer we find a weak station, and wher- 

 ever a station has earnestly devoted itself 

 to original investigations we find a strong 

 station." 



The Secretary also heartily commends 

 the movement to secure the introduction of 

 nature-teaching into the common schools, 

 and favors the providing of special privi- 

 leges for graduate students in the scientific 

 divisions of the Department. 



In general, the tone of the Secretary's 

 Report is very encouraging to the scientific 

 workers of the Department, for, while he 

 strongly insists on the necessity of bending 

 every energy to the securing of results of 

 wide practical application, it is clear that 

 he believes that this end can be most cer- 

 tainly and effectively reached by broadening 

 and strengthening the scientific researches 

 of the Department. 



The following schedule indicates in brief 

 the present development of the Department 

 as an agency for research and education in 

 agricultural science. 



THE DEPARTMENT AS AN AGENCY FOK RE- 

 SEARCH AND EDUCATION IN AGRI- 

 CULTURAL SCIENCE. 



Weather Bureau : Researches in climatology and 

 meteorology. 



Bureau of Animal Industry : Researches on animal 

 diseases, including chemical, bacteriological and zo- 

 ological investigations. 



Division of Statistics : Collection and study of 

 agricultural statistics. 



Division of Entomology : Researches on life his- 

 tory and geographic distribution of insects and on 

 means of repression of injurious insects. 



Division of Chemistry: Researches on soils, fertil- 

 izers, foods, sugar-producing plants, methods of analy- 

 sis, etc. 



Division of Botany : Researches on the natural 

 history, geographic distribution and utilization of 

 plants, special studies on seeds and on poisonous and 

 medicinal properties of plants, and collection of seeds 

 and plants from foreign countries. 



Division of Forestry : Researches on the natural 

 history, biology and utilization of forests and forest 

 trees and on timber physics. 



Division of Biological Survey: Researches on the 

 geographic distribution of plants and animals and on 

 food habits of birds and mammals. 



Division of Pomology : Studies on varieties of 

 fruits and nuts. 



Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology : 

 Researches on the physiology and diseases of plants. 



Division of Soils : Researches in agricultural 

 physics, especially on the physical properties, moist- 

 ure, temperature, etc., of soils. 



Division of Agrostology: Researches on natural 

 history, geographical distribution, and utilization of 

 grasses and forage plants. 



