The Experiment Station Co-operative Work. 
BY PROF. P. H. ROLFS, 
DIRECTOR FLORIDA EXPERIMENT STATION. 
Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen: 
In beginning my talk on the Experi¬ 
ment Station co-operative work I can¬ 
not do better than to show how the pur¬ 
poses for which the Experiment Station 
was founded is frequently misjudged, 
and in many quarters not understood. 
So much work has been done with the 
Horticultural Society, as a society, and 
with the different members of the Society, 
personally, that nearly everyone in my 
hearing is probably better informed than 
the best informed outside the Horticul¬ 
tural Society. In 1887 Congress pro¬ 
vided for the Experiment Station by pas¬ 
sing the Hatch Act. To show concisely 
what was intended by the Hatch Act I 
will quote you Section 2 verbatim : 
“Section 2. That it shall be the object 
and duty of said Experiment Stations to 
conduct original researches or experi¬ 
ments on the physiology of plants and 
animals; the diseases to which they are 
severally subject, with the remedies for 
the same; the chemical composition of 
plants at their different stages of growth; 
the comparative advantages of rotative 
cropping as pursued under a varying 
series of crops; the capacity of new plants 
or trees for acclimation; the analysis of 
soils and water; the chemical composition 
of manures, natural or artificial, with ex¬ 
periments designed to test their compara¬ 
tive effects on crops of different kinds; 
the adaptation and value of grasses and 
forage plants; the composition and diges¬ 
tibility of the different kinds of food for 
domestic animals; scientific and economic 
questions involved in the production of 
butter and cheese; and such other re¬ 
searches of experiments bearing directly 
on the agricultural industry of the United 
States as may in each case be deemed 
advisable, having due regard to the vary¬ 
ing conditions and needs of the respective 
States and Territories.” 
This, as you will see, makes a very 
clear cut statement of what the funds are 
to be used for. Thus, things which are 
not provided for in this Act are necessari¬ 
ly not contemplated and not permissi¬ 
ble under it. The Congress, previous 
to the one in session at the present time, 
passed a law requiring tliQ Secretary of 
Agriculture to supervise the experiments 
much more closely, and also co-ordinate 
the experiments in different States. 
During the past year Congress has 
passed the Adams Act which will prove 
of great benefit to the Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, and directly, to the people of Flori¬ 
da. In this Act an additional $5000 are 
appropriated, which is increased by $2000 
annually, until it shall reach $15000. 
This fund is more closely guarded even 
than that of the Hatch Fund. I quote you 
from this Act which appropriates the 
fund. 
* * * “to be applied only to paying 
the necessary expenses of conducting 
