our experiment stations have been a great success. No nation has ever attempted the free dissemination of agricultural information in so wide and thorough a way as has the United States, and it is believed that the results have justified the large expenditures which have been made for this purpose.

One large result of the educational work of the stations has been the general breaking down of the popular conception that agriculture is not capable of improvement through systematic and progressive researches in its behalf conducted on scientific principles. A widespread belief has been awakened that with the aid of science agriculture may be so lifted out of the ruts of a dead past that it will be able to hold its own amid the growing competitions and complexities of our modern civilization. Some of the consequences of this new belief are likely to be very important and far-reaching. Already the farmer in this country is much inclined to demand that theories and assertions regarding the practice of his art shall be brought to the test of rigid and accurate investigation. Those who have in recent years followed up the agricultural press or the farmers' institutes testify that articles or speeches which simply declare individual opinions or individual experience no longer satisfy the farmer. Whenever new ideas or theories are brought to his attention he is very apt to inquire if the experiment stations have looked into this matter, or he will at least demand that some sort of positive proof shall be presented that it is wise for him to accept the new proposition. While there has been at times widespread discontent among the farmers with regard to their economic condition, it may also be said that the experiment stations have done much toward inspiring a feeling of hopefulness. The stations are not only giving the farmer much information which will enable him to improve his practice of agriculture, but they are also leading him to a more intelligent conception of the problems with which he has to deal and of the methods he must pursue to successfully perform his share in the work of the community and hold his rightful place in the commonwealth.

As a result of the intimate association of the stations with institutions for higher education, the courses in agriculture have been improved and strengthened. The pedagogical possibilities of instruction in the science and practice of agriculture have thus been more clearly revealed, and the claims of agricultural science have increasingly gained the respect and attention of educators and scientists working in other lines.

There is now in this country a much keener appreciation than heretofore of the fact that the problems of agriculture furnish adequate opportunities for the exercise of the most thorough scientific attainments and the highest ability to penetrate the mysteries of nature. The general recognition of the high quality and successful outcome of

some of the best work of our stations has been a great encouragement to the continuance of faithful and thorough investigations in agricultural lines.

Considered merely as organizations for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge, the influence of the stations has by no means been inconsiderable. The establishment of so many institutions for origi nal research as component parts of colleges and universities marked a decided advance in public sentiment regarding the desirability of such work as a part of the system of public education in the United States; and the success already attained by the stations has led to earnest efforts to secure public support of similar institutions for the promotion of other arts and industries.

As regards the stations themselves, we may confidently assert that their past history gives great assurance of increasing strength and efficiency in the future. While they have encountered many difficulties in their development and there has necessarily been much of crudity in their work thus far, they have every year secured a better equipment and more thoroughly trained officers. With increasing resources they have been able to specialize their work more thoroughly and to increase its scope. They have succeeded in securing, to a remarkable extent, the confidence of the people for whose benefit they were primarily established, and have thus had no difficulty in obtaining financial support from Congress and the State legislatures. The people generally have come to regard the stations as permanent institutions, and are convinced of the usefulness of their work. They will, therefore, enter upon the twentieth century with bright prospects for the development of their researches in scientific thoroughness and accuracy and for the securing of larger practical results.

ASSOCIATIONS AFFILIATED WITH THE STATIONS.

THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

H. H. GOODELL of Massachusetts, Chair- JOHN H. WASHBURN of Rhode Island.

L. G. CARPENTER of Colorado, Chairman. CHARLES D. WOODS of Maine, Secretary.

Botany and Horticulture:

S. A. BEACH of New York, Chairman.

P. H. ROLFS of South Carolina, Secretary. College Work:

J. K. PATTERSON of Kentucky, Chairman. A. W. HARRIS of Maine, Secretary.

Entomology:

H. GARMAN of Kentucky, Chairman.

W. G. JOHNSON of Maryland, Secretary.
Mechanic Arts:

C. S. MURKLAND of New Hampshire, F. PAUL ANDERSON of Kentucky, Secretary.
Chairman.

79

H. P. ARMSBY of Pennsylvania, Chairman. C. M. WEED of New Hampshire.
E. H. JENKINS of Connecticut.
E. S. GOFF of Wisconsin.

A. C. TRUE of Washington, D. C.

Uniform Fertilizer Laws:

H. J. WHEELER of Rhode Island, Chair- H. P. ARMSBY of Pennsylvania.

man.

C. D. WOODS of Maine.

E. H. JENKINS of Connecticut.
M. A. SCOVELL of Kentucky.

Engineering Experiment Stations:

C. S. MURKLAND of New Hampshire, F. P. ANDERSON of Kentucky.
Chairman.

M. H. BUCKHAM of Vermont.

A. W. HARRIS of Maine.

J. E. STUBBS of Nevada.

Collective Station Exhibit at Paris Exposition:

H. P. ARMSBY of Pennsylvania, Chair- A. W. HARRIS of Maine.

man.

W. H. JORDAN of New York.

M. A. SCOVELL of Kentucky.
A. C. TRUE of Washington, D. C.

Graduate Study at Washington:

CYRUS NORTHROP of Minnesota, Chair- M. H. BUCKHAM of Vermont.

man.

J. E. STUBBS of Nevada.

A. C. TRUE of Washington, D. C.
ALEXIS COPE of Ohio.

J. H. WASHBURN of Rhode Island.

Cooperative Work between Stations and Department of Agriculture :

E. A. BRYAN of Washington, Chairman. W. A. HENRY of Wisconsin.
H. H. GOODELL of Massachusetts.
H. J. WATERS of Missouri,
L. G. CARPENTER of Colorado.

Indexing Agricultural Literature:

A. C. TRUE of Washington, D. C., Chair- T. F. HUNT of Ohio.

man.

W. M. HAYS of Minnesota.

E. DAVENPORT of Illinois.

W. P. CUTTER of Washington, D. C.

Military Instruction in Land-Grant Colleges:

G. W. ATHERTON of Pennsylvania, Chair- ALEXIS COPE of Ohio.

CONSTITUTION.

NAME.

This association shall be called the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations.

OBJECT.

The object of this association shall be the consideration and discussion of all questions pertaining to the successful progress and administration of the colleges and stations included in the association, and to secure to that end mutual cooperation.

MEMBERSHIP.

(1) Every college established under the act of Congress approved July 2, 1862, or receiving the benefits of the act of Congress approved August 30, 1890, and every agricultural experiment station established under State or Congressional authority, the Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Office of Experiment Stations of the last-named Department, shall be eligible to membership in this association.

(2) Any institution a member of the association in full standing may send any number of delegates to the meetings of the association, but one shall be designated to the association as the regular representative and voting delegate. The same delegate may represent both a college and a station, but shall cast only one vote in general sessions. Other delegates may be designated by any institution to represent it in specified sections of the association, but such delegates shall vote only in such sections, and no institution shall be allowed more than one vote in any sectional meeting.

(3) Delegates from other institutions engaged in educational or experimental work in the interest of agriculture or mechanic arts may, by a majority vote, be admitted to conventions of the association, with all privileges except the right to vote.

(4) In like manner, any person engaged or directly interested in agriculture or mechanic arts who shall attend any convention of this association may be admitted to similar privileges.

SECTIONS.

(1) The association shall be organized into sections upon (1) college work; (2) agriculture and chemistry; (3) horticulture and botany; (4) entomology; (5) mechanic arts. The executive committee shall, upon the request of any ten institutions represented in the association, provide for the organization of provisional sections at any convention.

(2) Each section shall conduct its own proceedings and shall keep record of the same, and present a synopsis thereof to the association at the close of every convention; and no action of a section, by resolution or otherwise, shall be valid until the same shall have been ratified by the association in general session.

MEETINGS.

(1) This association shall hold at least one meeting in every calendar year, to be designated as the annual convention of the association. Special meetings may be held at other times, upon the call of the executive committee, for purposes to be specified in the call.

(2) The annual convention of the association shall comprise general sessions and meetings of the sections, and provision shall be made therefor in the programme. The section meetings may be simultaneous or otherwise, at the discretion of the executive committee, but at least two sections of the association, to be designated each year by the executive committee, shall present in general session of each convention a portion of the subjects coming before them.

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