SUGGESTIONS FOR DISTRIBUTING AND FILING INDEX 

 CARDS ACCORDING TO THE FOREGOING KEY. 



Th§ utility of the index depends in a large measure upon a prompt 

 and systematic method of distributing and filing the cards. The plan 

 as carried out in this OfBce is as follows : 



1. Distribution. — As soon as a package of 200 cards is received, it is 

 opened and the cards distributed on a table or desk into 13 stacks as 

 determined by the figure preceding the decimal point of the number in 

 the upper right-hand corner of each card. Thus cards with such index 

 numbers as 5.14, 7.32, 9.31, and 13.34 would be placed respectively 

 on stacks 5, 7, 9, and 13. By this method every card is first brought 

 under the main divisions of the index as shown by the Key. 



Each stack is then taken separately and the same plan carried out 

 with regard to the first index numbers following the decimal point. 

 Thus cards in stack 5 are arranged under 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6, or 5.6, 

 as the case may be. In like manner cards under each of these subdi- 

 visions are arranged under the second and last decimal point, as 5.11, 

 5.12, 5.13, etc. 



The next step is to take each subdivision, as 5.13, and arrange the 

 cards topically in alphabetical order. This work can all be done on a 

 desk or table in a short space of time. 



2. Filing. — The index is intended to be used topically and the topics 

 are selected with the object of keeping the index within reasonable 

 limits consistent with intelligent and practical indexing of the litera- 

 ture. Cards should then be filed — 



(1) Alphabetically by topics; 



(2) Alphabetically by stations ; 



(3) Chronologically under stations. 



The advantage of this method is that any person interested in a par- 

 ticular subject, as, for example, the " culture of corn," by any station or 

 all the stations, finds the cards relating to this subject grouped (1) under 

 "Corn, Culture," (2) under "Alabama College" (or other station in 

 alphabetical order), and (3) arranged in each case in chronological 

 order from the beginning of the work to the last entry. The stations 

 being arranged alphabetically, the work on "Corn, Culture" is thus 

 brought together, and one may consider as he desires a single experi- 

 ment, the work of a station, or the results of the stations' experiments 

 as a whole. In like manner with the "test of varieties of crops," "feed- 

 ing experiments with live stock," "dairy herd records," "injurious 

 insects," etc., the data on these lines are topically, alphabetically, and 

 chronologically grouped. 



If this general plan be followed it does not require much time to dis- 

 tribute and file the index, and its general usefulness is thereby greatly 

 enhanced. 



