April 6, 1900.] 



SGiENcn:, 



543 



better for the station to make arrangements 

 to work in orchards alreadj' established. 

 Special investigationsof different kinds must 

 be carried on away from the station in order 

 to be of any use. By going into diiferent 

 localities, as the needs of its work demand, 

 the station can make itself more useful to 

 the State as a whole. Without doubt co- 

 operative experiments need to be verj'^ care- 

 fully planned and thoroughly supervised to 

 be successfully conducted, and their success 

 depends on their quality rather than their 

 number. It is encouraging to observe that 

 more careful attention is being given to this 

 important matter by station officers, and it 

 is believed that this work may be made 

 much moi'e economical and useful than the 

 permanent substations as ordinarily man- 



CO OPEEATION OF THE STATIONS WITH THE 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



As the stations and the various branches 

 of this Department are working along simi- 

 lar lines, it has been found increasingly de- 

 sirable for the Department and the stations 

 to unite in co-operative enterprises, and this 

 has been done to an increasing extent. This 

 policy has been approved by the action of 

 Congress, which in recent years has in an 

 increasing number of instances authorized 

 or directed co- operation with the stations in 

 the appropriation acts making provision for 

 the maintenance of this Department. These 

 co-operative enterprises -have so far increased 

 in extent and variety as to make it desirable 

 to have a more formal plan for arranging 

 for such co-operation than has hitherto been 

 necessarJ^ In recognition of this need the 

 Secretary of Agriculture made an order 

 under date of February 28, 1899, requiring 

 the ofRcers of this Department to submit 

 their plans for co-operation with the stations 

 for his approval before negotiating with the 

 stations, and designating the Office of Ex- 

 periment Stations as the representative of 



the Department in arranging for such co- 

 operation and keeping a record of the co- 

 operative enterprises agreed upon. Under 

 this order the Department and the station 

 each designate the officers who are to have 

 immediate charge of the co-operative work 

 in any given case, and these officers carry 

 out the details of the plan agreed upon. 

 Recognizing the importance of this matter, 

 the Association of American Agricultural 

 Colleges and Experiment Stations, at its re- 

 cent meeting in California, appointed a com- 

 mittee to confer with the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture on this subject and make a report to 

 the Association at its next session. 



The governing boards and executive offi- 

 cers of the stations feel the necessitj' of 

 having the terms of co-operative operations 

 definitely stated and the whole transaction 

 made a matter of record as a component 

 part of the station business. It is also de- 

 sirable that ample opportunity should be 

 given for the station to consider how far 

 and in what waj's co-operation with the 

 department is desirable, and to what ex- 

 tent its funds will be involved in such co- 

 operation. The stations are to an increas- 

 ing extent becoming centers of information 

 and authority on lines of work in which 

 they have been engaged with special refer- 

 ence to the local requirements of agricul- 

 ture, and it is by supplementing the funds 

 already at the disposal of the stations for 

 work in special lines, and by securing the 

 services of their expert officers and the use 

 of the special facilities at their command, 

 that the Department can oftentimes accom- 

 plish results more economically and effi- 

 ciently than by instituting parallel and 

 independent investigations. As the opera- 

 tions of the stations become better organ- 

 ized in their respective localities, they have 

 a just expectation that their knowledge of 

 the local requirements of agriculture and 

 their position as authorities on the subjects 

 in which they work will be more fully 



