The plan of organization adopted by all the stations supported by the General Government aims at the performance of three distinct functions: first, the investigation of all such important questions relating to the agricultural interests of the States as are most pressing and vital to the farming communities, including the collection of such data of animal and vegetable life, the geological history, the soils and climate of the several sections of the States, as may be obtained for purposes of comparison and further research; second, original experimentation upon agricultural, horticultural, or other scientific lines which have not already been fully explored; third, the placing themselves in such relations to the farmers that they can most readily serve them as central points of information upon all matters connected with farm work and management. Thus many of the stations accomplish much of their most valuable work through their correspondence with the farmers, answering, as far as possible, any and all such questions as come to them, and offering such suggestions to individuals in regard to the care and direction of their farms as occasion and opportunity afford. In many States, particularly in the West, where the great area included within State lines renders it impossible for a single station to perform the work for all sections, branch stations are established, reporting to a central station, generally the one connected with the agricultural college. From these branch stations abundant material is furnished for purposes of comparison between soils, products, and climatic conditions. How to secure the most satisfactory distribution of the results of the station work has from the first been a question of no little difficulty. The first method universally adopted is the compliance with the requirements of the law providing for the issuing of at least one bulletin quarterly, and the making of an annual report upon the work to the governor and the Departments of Agriculture and of the Treasury. These bulletins and reports, and such special bulletins as the station staff may from time to time desire to issue, are printed at the expense of the States and sent free of charge to the farmers of the State, to every other experiment station, and, in general, to all who apply for them. There is thus constantly circulating through the country an ever increasing body of agricultural literature, the beneficial effects of which are yearly becoming more apparent. Besides this method of dissemination of agricultural literature, there are several other ways in which the stations are enabled to keep in touch with the farming communities. The practice of holding county and State fairs affords an admirable opportunity for this, and one of which the stations have not been slow in taking advantage. Their exhibits at such gatherings usually attract no little attention. These exhibits usually consist of carefully arranged object lessons in analyses ⚫ of farm and dairy products, fertilizers and soils, the results of variety tests of cereals and vegetables, comparative illustrations of the effects ED 9141 of the different methods of sceding, etc. These occasions, too, afford opportunity for the general distribution of agricultural literature. Another point of communication with the agricultural communities is the farmer' institutes. In some cases the staff of the experiment station is only able to be present at these meetings, and to engage in the discussion of such topics as may happen to arise; in others the meetings are held directly under the auspices of the station, and consist of lectures and addresses upon its work and the needs of the farmers themselves. Much real good has been accomplished by this means, and interest has been aroused upon many important local questions, such as county roads, drainage, the care of orchards, crop rotation, methods of stock breeding and feeding, dairying, and markets and prices. In those States where a department of veterinary science forms part of the station organization, the plan of holding periodical clinics, at which animals are treated free of charge, and practical instruction is offered in the remedies for the most common diseases of farm stock and the treatment of injuries resulting from the accidents to which stock are liable, has been adopted with considerable success. The advantages of such clinics are mutual, instituting a more enlightened and often a more humane policy on the part of the farmers towards their stock, and serving as valuable object lessons in veterinary science to students of the agricultural colleges. Not the least important of the effects of the scientific investigations of the experiment stations and the spread of technical agricultural knowledge resulting therefrom has been the rapid increase in the amount of agricultural literature in the United States. Forty years ago there was practically nothing of any great value published in this country bearing upon scientific agriculture. The proceedings of the European agricultural societies and a few works by European authors formed the whole body of literature upon the subject. To-day the number of agricultural works yearly published in the United States is more than equal to the demand. American authors on crop-raising, on drainage and irrigation, on stock-breeding and dairy farming, on horticulture, arboriculture, and viticulture, on botany and entomology, are regarded as authorities everywhere. The number of agricultural periodicals has become simply enormous, and is yearly increasing; while the general interest taken in all subjects relating to agriculture and its kindred sciences is most encouraging. Although these conditions have to no small extent been brought about directly or indirectly by the experiment-station system as at present existing, the first effect of their work was naturally to direct attention to the stations themselves. Thanks to the more general enlightenment upon and the wider interest taken in agricultural matters, their plans and methods are being subjected to constant and often to severe scrutiny and criticism; this is precisely the most desirable state of affairs that could exist, not that there is any real reason for complaint as to the character and amount of the work accomplished by them, for on the contrary, in most instances, they are well able to stand the test, but the consciousness that they are regarded as the leaders in the line of agricultural advancement has naturally a stimulating effect upon their work and workers. It was not to be expected that the experiment stations would at once spring into popular favor. With not a few enemies from the first, ready and eager to detect and point out to the public gaze every slip and possible error made through inexperience or hasty conclusion, it has generally been the case that all important work undertaken has been deliberately conducted and the results cautiously announced. Directors have been keenly alive to the fact that a tardy conclusion is far better than an erroneous or a doubtful one. Repeated verification is absolutely essential to the accuracy of most agricultural experiments. So many quantities have to be taken into the account, so much allowance has to be made for unforeseen extraneous influences and varying climatic conditions, that only after again and again testing the fact to be demonstrated can any definite assertion be made regarding it. This delay, inexplicable to the uninitiated, has always been a point of attack from those who, themselves incompetent to judge, are unwilling that others should suspend judgment. While there is to a certain extent a sort of general supervision exercised by the General Government, through the Department of Agriculture, over the work of the experiment stations, and while, too, there is some coöperation among the stations in the lines of work adopted, it is nevertheless a fact that they can not reach their highest point of utility until something more of a system has been devised. As we have seen, the immmense area of the country and the great differences in soils and climates and social conditions serve to make the work of each experiment station more or less independent, yet this independence can be carried too far, especially in the case of stations where the conditions are more nearly alike. There seems to be no reason why the same experiments should be performed in a dozen different States upon points which can not vary, no matter where they arise. This is particularly true in the entomological and veterinary departments. Apparently much time and expense could be saved if such work were definitely divided up among the various stations in such a way that, where no local interest is involved, the results of the experiments. should become general property and available to farmers everywhere. In this respect the European system is vastly superior to our own. And yet our own stations are still comparatively in their infancy, and it would be clearly unfair to expect perfect organization and coöperation for years to come. That it will come, however, and that the efficiency and usefulness of the agricultural experiment stations will continue to Alabama Delaware.. Florida Louisiana increase, is a belief which the record of their first five years of recognized existence would seem to fully warrant. For complete lists of the bulletins published by the experiment stations, attention is called to the publications of the office of experiment stations of the Agricultural Department at Washington. In the Official Experiment Station Record (monthly), printed by the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture, a full bibliography of the literature emanating from the stations is maintained, with a summary of each month's new bulletins. Copies of this record can be obtained by apply. ing to the United States Department of Agriculture. Expenditure and working force of experiment stations. State. 19 12 10 206786ROTTBG 10 5 $25, 584. 17 Mississippi.. 15,000.00 15, 103. 89 16, 349.08 Utah 14 6594O5958 3 $15,000.00 15,000.00 15,000.00 10 14, 826. 79 3 7 ANNUAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS. By WM. LEROY BROUN, President of the association, at the sixth annual convention, held in New Orleans, November 15, 1892. Gentlemen of the association: In the annual address to be made on this occasion, in accordance with the custom and law of this association of agricultural colleges and experiment stations, I propose to occupy a portion of your time in discussing the educational features of the institutions here represented, and their adaption to the wants of the people. Education that looks to culture alone, while attractive and elevating in its nature and refining in its influence, does not of itself qualify the recipient for the active duties of life. It simply builds the piers of the bridge to be crossed. There must be superadded to this culture, when obtained by the fortunate possessor, that technical education which will span the chasm that separates college life from actual life. Milton's definition of education as "that which fits a man to perform skilfully, magnanimously, and justly all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war," is of too general a character to be of value. For whatever might have been thought possible in Milton's day, it is beyond doubt impossible now for any one person to be so equally well educated in all departments as to be able to perform skilfully all the offices of peace and war. In former years the older college systems were especially adapted, with their excess of classical culture, to the professions of law, medicine, theology, and pedagogy. But long since thoughtful men recognized the defect of a system of education that prepared the youth of the country only for the so-called learned professions. The fact that of the many millions of our people that were engaged in gainful occupations about one-half was employed in agriculture, and less than 3 per cent belong to the class of lawyers, physicians, clergymen, and teachers, showed the necessity of BROADENING OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM to include this larger class, for which but little special provision had been made. And besides this, the changes wrought in the various occupations of life by the advances made in science and its many applications to the industrial arts demanded that provision should be made for a wide diffusion among the people of a knowledge of these sciences and their applications. It was in recognition of these facts that the Congress of the United States made the liberal donation of public lands to establish the American agricultural colleges. It is gratifying to consider that wise provision of national legislation, through the instrumentality of which there now exists in every State and Territory a college, endowed by the General Government, for the education and elevation of the people by instruction in the principles and applications of science. Our admiration for the far-seeing wisdom of its authors, who, in that legislation, "builded better than they knew," increases the more the subject is considered. By the well-known act of Congress of July 2, 1862, by which the land-grant colleges were founded, Senator Morrill, of Vermont, BUILT FOR HIMSELF A MONUMENT more lasting than brass. For thereby his name will be held throughout our entire country in affection and esteem by the youth of the centuries to come, who shall fill the halls of these colleges in seeking that education which will fit them to become citizens worthy of the Republic. It would, therefore, I beg just here to say, be eminently proper that there should be placed in the library of each of the land-grant colleges a bust of our distinguished legislative patron, as an evidence of our high appreciation of the great work he has accomplished in the cause of education. The historic period in which the act of Congress became a law suggests a somewhat parallel instance in the establishment of a celebrated European university. The historian tells us that hardly had the sound of the Spanish artillery ceased to be heard across the plains of Holland, when Leyden decked herself with flowers in honor of the founding of the great university which has for centuries cast the light of science and learning to the remote parts of the earth. While Leyden was founded as a memorial of peace, our colleges were founded in the hope of peace and the preservation of the Union. Just thirty years ago, when all the energies of our country were being consumed in that terrible internecine struggle, when war, with its consuming blight, was alone the subject of thought and object of action, then, with A WISE FORESIGHT rarely equaled, with a sublime faith in the future of our country, did Congress set apart and devote a vast portion of the public domain to the several States, in trust, for the collegiate education of the generations to come. This act alone will signalize in history the Congress of 1862. A century must elapse before its beneficial effects on the education of the people will be duly appreciated. As it was only possible once in the history of the world for America to have been discovered, so it was only possible once for the consecration of this large area of |