tural colleges, Irrigration in New Jersey, Mechanical tests of pump-. ing plants in California, Corn harvesting machinery, Dietary studies at the University of Tennessee in 1915, Studies on bread and bread making at the University of Minnesota in 1899 and 1900, Course in fruit growing for movable schools of agriculture, Farmers' reading courses, and, Legislation relating to farmers' institutes in the United States and the Province of Ontario, Canada. Farmers' Bulletins. Hundreds of Farmers' Bulletins have been distributed free of charge on application to the Secretary of Agriculture and to Senators and Representatives. One series of bulletins was early begun, as the Experiment Station work series, and it was regularly issued bi-monthly. There were two editions: a large edition circulated regularly in the farmers' bulletins series of the Department and the subsequent smaller edition, with consecutive paging and index for reference purposes.

Examples of farmers' bulletins contributed by the Office to the Department are: Fertilizers for cotton; Tomato growing; Corn harvesting machinery; Silos and silage; Principles of horse feeding; How to build small irrigation ditches; and Modern conveniences for the farm home.

Publications of the Alaskan and Insular Stations. The publications of the national experiment stations in Alaska, the territories, and the insular possessions have generally been in the form of reports or bulletins. Usually they have been issued as congressional documents, as publications of the Office of Experiment Stations, or as station bulletins and circulars. As a rule, however, these publications have not been available for distribution by the Office.

Yearbook Articles. Almost every year the Office of Experiment Stations has contributed articles to the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, which constitutes the second part of the annual report of the Department. It's contents, however, have always been different in nature from that of the usual office report, in that it is composed mostly of papers from various bureaus discussing the results of investigations and the new developments in practical farming. These reports of the Office are issued in popular style as separates for free distribution as long as the supply is available. Editions which have been exhausted quickest are: Agricultural experiments in Alaska, Popular education for the farmer in the United States, Some typical reservoirs in the Rocky Moun

tain States, The respiration calorimeter, and Nuts and their uses as food.

Circulars. Special phases of the subjects treated in the Office bulletins have been presented in the Circulars from time to time since 1889. Some of them are written for specialized scientists, others for lay readers. All are distributed gratuitously as long as they are available. Some Circulars deal with such problems of internal administration, as Civil Service in the Department of Agriculture; Organization lists of the agricultural experiment stations in the United States; and Progress report on irrigation experiments in Willamette Valley, Oregon. Others develop topics of popular interest, like Swamp and overflowed lands in the United States; County life education; and The functions and uses of foods.

Like the bulletins, many of the Circulars are the result of coöperation with the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, as is indicated by the circulars containing reports of the Association, viz., Report of committee on experiment station organization and policy; Report of committee on rural engineering; and Report of committee on extension work. The constitution of the association has also been issued as a circular.

Monthly Lists of Station Publications. In 1904 the Office began the publication of bi-monthly lists of the publications received from the several experiment stations. Later this list was issued at monthly intervals in limited editions for the use of experiment station officers, farmers' institute workers, and librarians.

List of Office Publications. The Office early began to classify its publications relating to the nutrition of man, to irrigation and to drainage, and to distribute these lists gratuitously from time to time. Later this precedent was carried out by the publication of bibliographies on other subjects.

Farmers' Institute Lectures. While the Office of Experiment Stations by itself alone did not constitute the nucleus of the Office of Motion Pictures of the Department of Agriculture, it was a contributing factor through its early production of syllabi for illustrated lectures. These were for the use of farmers' institute lecturers, and were distributed free of charge. The first ten illustrated lectures included the subjects: Acid soils, Roads and road

building, Farm architecture, and Production and marketing of eggs and fowls.

Card Index of Experiment Station Literature. The volume of publications issued by the several state stations is indicated by the fact that during its first two decades, the Office of Experiment Stations issued about thirty thousand index cards covering such publications. Each card contained the title of one article, the name of its author, and a reference to the publication in which it appeared, and also to that issue of the Experiment Station Record which contained an abstract of the same article, with a condensed statement of its contents.

One copy of the index, with a key containing the classification system, was sent gratis to each of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and to some of the state commissioners and state boards of agriculture. Limited numbers of the index were prepared for general distribution at cost prices.

Charts. During the first three years of the Office, food and diet charts were issued, but they were soon exhausted and the publication of charts was never resumed.

Journal of Agricultural Research. Issued monthly by the Department of Agriculture, the Journal of Agricultural Research is a medium for the presentation of the technical results of investigations conducted in the bureaus of the Department and in the state stations. It is issued free to institutions, and reprints of articles are issued for general circulation.

In the establishment and in the subsequent publication of the Journal, the Office of Experiment Stations has been a determining factor. In 1885 the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations considered the need of a research journal. This need, augmented by the creation of the Office in 1887, was further considered at almost every annual meeting of the association. At its 1909 convention, it was proposed to have the association coöperate with the Department in the publishing of the journal, the editorial functions being conducted in the Office of Experiment Stations. The Director of the Office declared that if the Office

could have some common medium for the publication of scientific work of the stations so that it could be put out in good form and

published apart from the mass of popular material and extension work that the stations have to do under present conditions, it would ... be a great gain in every way. It would raise the scientific reputation and standing of our stations. It would make possible the employment of a higher grade of scientific men in many cases in our stations, since they would find the work much more attractive. On the other hand, the farmer would be better pleased, because if this scientific work was once separated out and the ordinary bulletins of the stations were prepared primarily in simple and untechnical language, undoubtedly the matter would be much better presented for the farmer's use. There is no doubt that a great deal of the influence that the stations might have is lost at present, because their work is put out in such form that the farmer is discouraged in the attempt to find out what the stations actually do which is of real practical significance.1

The association agreed that it would require " the united effort of the colleges and stations to secure early favorable consideration of the matter by Congress," and during the following year the effects of this united effort were patent. The Secretary of Agriculture reported:

One further step is needed to complete this system and demonstrate to the world that our agricultural progress is being permanently assured because it rests on a scientific foundation. A suitable agency for publishing the research work of the stations is still lacking and the need of this is becoming more acute as time goes on. Investigations in various lines are being brought to completion and the data await publication. In one instance very extensive records of the relation of feed to the requirement of dairy cows have been in progress for many years without any visible outlet for their publication. In another the results of bacteriological studies of the soil in relation to fertility are filed away ready to be published when opportunity offers. Others, embodying the results of long continued field experiments, are confined to the record books of the station, and the product of studies upon the principles of breeding plants and animals are accumulating in volume.'

Furthermore, the Secretary of Agriculture inserted in his estimates an item to enable "the Secretary of Agriculture, in coöperation with the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, to prepare, publish, and distribute original

technical reports of the scientific investigations made by the agricultural experiment stations" established in accordance with the act of 1887. And the Director of the Office of Experiment Stations reminded the association that if it were "made plain to the Congressmen in the different states that the station officers and boards of management think that it is a matter of vital importance to our agricultural experiment stations," he had little doubt that Congress would make the appropriation.

As a result of this agitation throughout a quarter-century, the Journal of Agricultural Research was established in 1913 by the Department of Agriculture, the first issue being that of October 1, 1913. For five years it was issued weekly, but pursuant to an order of the Acting Secretary of Agriculture it was reduced in April, 1919, to a monthly publication with a maximum of fortyeight pages, and some contributions were withdrawn.

After July 1, 1923, when the Office of Experiment Stations was transferred from the abolished States Relations Service to the Office of the Secretary, the publications of the Office tended to develop into the classification that was maintained prior to the creation of the States Relation Service in 1915. Furthermore, the Office continued to be engaged in editorial work for the Journal of Agricultural Research which is published by the Department of Agriculture in coöperation with the Association of Land Grant Colleges.

A complete summary and list of publications by the Office of Experiment Stations prior to June 30, 1909, is given in the Office of Experiment Stations Circular 70 (Revised), issued September 20, 1909, which may be had on application to the Director of the Office or to the Superintendent of Documents.

From 1909 until 1915, when the Office was transferred to the States Relations Service, the publications of the Office were as given in table opposite.

Besides these publications there were numerous reprints of articles, abstracts from publications, and various irregular publications that are not included. In 1915, the total number of abstracts of the world's scientific literature pertaining to agriculture was 7800.