1906.] Experimental Work in United States. 401 



birds had been sold when killed, into a profit. It is believed 

 that a somewhat similar system obtains in New Zealand, from 

 which Colony, despite the distance, large numbers of poultry 

 are sent to South Africa. One large consignment at least has 

 been sent to this country. 



An article on the " Fattening of Poultry " appeared in this 

 Journal m May, 1906, and will shortly be issued as a leaflet, 

 No. i;6. C. E. J. Walkev. 



The work of agricultural investigation and research in the 

 United States has made very great progress in recent years. 



There is, in the first place, the Department 

 Ag-ricultural of Agriculture, which is devoting itself 

 ^ork^hf^he^ more and more to scientific work, and 

 United States. becoming, in fact, a central experiment 

 station, and, secondly, there are the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations established in 1887 in each of the 

 States and territories. There are now sixty of these, of which 

 fifty-five receive grants from the National Government. The 

 Act establishing the agricultural experiment stations made them 

 practically independent of one another and of the Department 

 of Agriculture, but the relations between these bodies have in 

 reality been very close. To quote Dr. E. W. Allen, the Assistant 

 Director of the Office of Experiment Stations,* " they have 

 been drawn together by a common purpose, and as their work 

 has progressed they have often found themselves in positions of 

 mutual helpfulness and dependence. They have developed 

 together. Together they have demonstrated the utility of 

 agricultural investigation, and shown its practical importance to 

 the farmer and horticulturist. They have laid the foundation 

 of a science of agriculture as a basis for teaching, and have won 

 the confidence and appreciation of the general public to such an 

 extent as to make their continued development possible." 



The period covered by the experiment station movement has 

 seen a great change in the Department of Agriculture, both in 

 character and in material equipment. The Department has 



* " Year Book of the Department of Agriculture," 1905, 



K K 



