ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNING BOARDS AND RULES ADOPTED BY THEM FOR THE REGULATION OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS. ALABAMA. Agricultural Experiment Station of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn. Department of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, The Alabama Station is a department of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and is governed by the board of trustees of the institute. There are twelve members in the board, two of whom, the governor and the State superintendent of education, are ex officio. The other members are appointed by the governor for six years, one from each Congressional district, except the district in which the institute is located, which is entitled to two members. This board has supervision of all matters pertaining to the election of officers of the station, the appropriation of its funds, and the final decision of all questions relating to its management. There is a standing committee of the board consisting of three members, designated the committee of trustees on the experiment station. This committee is required to visit the station each year and make a special report at the annual meeting of the board. No permanent improvement may be made without its approval. The general control of all the affairs of the station not exercised by the board is intrusted to a station council appointed or elected by that board and consisting at present of the president, director, heads of divisions, and associate chemist. No rules have been adopted by the board. Canebrake Agricultural Experiment Station, Uniontown, The Canebrake Agricultural Experiment Station is maintained exclusively by the State. The board of control consists of the commissioner of agriculture of the State, the director of the station, "and five cultivators of Canebrake land." The director of the station at Auburn is by law director ex officio of the Canebrake Station. The resident members of the staff are an assistant director in charge, veterinarian, and treasurer. Tuskegee Agricultural Experiment Station, Tuskegee. The Tuskegee Agricultural Experiment Station is managed by a board of control consisting of the State commissioner of agriculture, the president of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the director of the experiment station at Auburn, and the members of the board of trustees of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute who reside in the town of Tuskegee. Immediate oversight of station affairs is exercised through an executive committee of the board of control. A State law provides, "That the board of control must cause such experiments to be made at said station as will advance the interest of scientific agriculture, and to cause such chemical analyses to be made as are deemed necessary, all analyses, if requested, to be under the supervision of the commissioner of agriculture, by the chemist of the agricultural department, without charge." ALASKA. Alaska Agricultural Experiment Stations, Sitka, Kenai, and Copper Center. Under the supervision of A. C. True, Director, Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture. The Alaska Experiment Stations are under the direct control of the Secretary of Agriculture, who manages them through the Office of Experiment Stations, the Director of which exercises general supervision of this enterprise. The immediate management of these stations is committed to a special agent in charge. ARIZONA. Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Department of the University of Arizona. The governing board of the Arizona Station consists of the governor of the Territory and the superintendent of public instruction ex officio and four members appointed by the governor for an indefinite term. The governor also has the power of removal of members. Board meetings are held twice a month. No system of rules regulating the conduct of station officials has been adopted. The director is given full charge of station affairs and is held responsible for results. Matters requiring the formal approval of the board are submitted at the regular meetings. ARKANSAS. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Fayetteville. Department of the University of Arkansas. The governing board of the Arkansas Station is the board of trustees of the university, which is composed of the governor of the State (chairman ex officio) and six members, one from each Congressional district, appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate, for a term of six years. The board has entire management of the station in regard to salaries, appointment of officers, and important expenditures. Immediate oversight of the station is intrusted to a committee of the board, consisting of three members. The trustees are required by law to hold one meeting at the university and as many special meetings as may be necessary. No rules or regulations pertaining directly to the experiment station have been adopted. Appointments are made by the trustees for a term of one year. The director has general supervision of station affairs. He is required to report annually through the president to the trustees on the condition of the station, the experiments in progress and completed during the year, and proposed new work. Each head of division selects his own line of work, subject to the approval of the director and board of control CALIFORNIA. Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California, Berkeley. Department of the University of California. The California Experiment Station is under the management of the board of trustees of the university which consists of the governor of the State (president of the board), lieutenant-governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the State superintendent of public instruction, as ex officio members, and 16 members appointed by the governor, with the approval of the senate, for terms of sixteen years. Meetings are usually held monthly or more frequently. No formal code of rules has been adopted by the board. Up to the present year the work was practically under the direction of the director, the regents and president of the university taking no cognizance of the details, but only of the success of the work by the people of the State. Now, however, there are fortnightly meetings of the station staff presided over by the director, in which the station policy and expenditures, as well as the work to be done, are generally discussed and decided upon, especially as to the apportionment of funds. COLORADO. Agricultural Experiment Station, Fort Collins. Department of the State Agricultural College of Colorado. The governing board of the Colorado Station is the State board of agriculture, which consists of eight members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State senate, with the governor of the State and the president of the college ex officio. The term of office is eight years. Two members are appointed biennially. If vacancies occur before the term of office expires they are filled by the remaining members. There are a number of standing committees, but these committees do not have the authority of the board except by special authorization. The most important committee is the executive committee, consisting of five members selected by ballot for two years, which was formed especially to supervise the affairs of the experiment station. This committee meets monthly and audits the expenditures of both experiment station and college. The board holds two meetings annually, one in December and one in June. Other meetings may be called by the president of the board at the request of three members. Regulations governing the future action of the board and staff were adopted in December, 1899, as follows: REGULATIONS OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE GOVERNING THE EXPERIMENT STATION. Resolved, That the following communication from the Director of Experiment Stations of the United States be spread on the records and adopted, as expressing the future policy of the board regarding the work and organization of the experiment station: "U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, "OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS, "Hon. P. F. SHARP, "President of the Board of Agriculture, Denver, Colo. "DEAR SIR: Referring to our recent conversation regarding the organization and work of the Colorado Experiment Station, it seems to me that the following points should especially engage the attention of the governing board in considering the reorganization of the station: "(1) The station is, under the law, a department of the college, and as such should have an organization which will consolidate it and enable it to work as a unit. Experience shows that this can best be done by giving the station its own executive head (a director) and organizing a staff to work under his immediate direction. "(2) The director should be made fully responsible for the planning and carrying out of the work of the station, for its expenditures and publications, and for the management of all business details, and he should be given ample authority for these purposes. The board should look to him for the initiative in all matters relating to the station, including the nomination of members of the staff, and should ordinarily confine itself to the appointment of the officers of the station and passing upon the plans for work and expenditures submitted by the director, through the president of the college, and auditing accounts. The director and other chief officers of the S. Doc. 148, 58-2—18 station should be chosen to serve during good behavior and efficiency, and the plans of work and expenditures should be submitted to the board annually. "(3) The members of the staff should be individually responsible to the director as regards station work, and should be held to the performance of work ordered by the director, which would often involve the cooperation of several members of the staff. As members of the station staff the professors should be distinctly subordinate to the director. In this respect they should hold a different position as regards station work from that which they hold as instructors in the college. Thus, the professor of chemistry is the head of the department of chemistry of the college, as far as instruction goes, and as such is subordinate only to the president of the college, but as chemist of the station he should act under the orders of the director. "(4) The station council should be simply an advisory body, holding meetings for consultation on station interests, but voting, if at all, merely to express opinions. "(5) The general plan of expenditures should be drawn up annually by the director after consultation with members of the staff and approved by the board. This should include estimates for salaries, expenses of the several departments, publications, etc. There should always be a certain reserve fund, to be spent at the discretion of the director, to meet emergencies arising during the year. "Expenditures should be made on requisition drawn by the different members of the staff and approved by the director, and all bills should be approved before payment by the director. The accounts and vouchers for each year should be finally audited and indorsed by a committee of the governing board. "(6) The main work of the station should be along one or two lines, and all members of the staff should cooperate in this work as far as practicable. This need not exclude smaller pieces of work in a few other lines, and it is well for each department to have some work in which it alone is concerned. In Colorado it seems natural and desirable that the station should concentrate its work on irrigation problems, and it should be a leading authority on these problems. "Plans for the work should be carefully drawn up annually by the director, after consultation with members of the staff, and when approved by the board should be carried out carefully and vigorously. Careful attention should be given to the proper recording of work, and the station records should be preserved in fireproof safes or vaults. "(7) All the work of the station, wherever conducted (whether at Fort Collins or in other localities in the State), should be under the immediate charge of the director, or such members of the staff as he may assign to have charge, and the director should be made responsible for the management of all work without regard to locality. Substations are not contemplated by the Hatch Act, and have generally proved very expensive and of little value, those in Colorado not being exceptions to the rule. "The station should work for the general interests of the agriculture of Colorado, and should carry on its investigations wherever they can best be prosecuted, but should be free to move its field work from point to point as the requirements of the work may demand. It is not fair to the farmers of the State to maintain expensive substations in two or three favored localities. The amount of field work to be done at Fort Collins should be determined by the nature of the investigations pursued by the station at any time, and may be relatively small. If the station is organized to pursue a series of special investigations for the benefit of Colorado agriculture, there will be little difficulty in deciding where the work can best be done. The location of the work in any given instance should, of course, be left to the director and other expert officers of the station. "I am not sure I have covered all the points you desired me to touch upon. I shall, of course, be glad to write you further at any time. "Very respectfully yours, "(Signed) A. C. TRUE." Resolved, That in order to carry the foregoing recommendations into effect, the following regulations be adopted: (1) That the experiment station shall be a department of the college (as provided by law), with the director as the responsible head. The heads of the sections, with the president of the college and the secretary of the State board of agriculture, shall constitute the advisory council to meet with the director from time to time for mutual consultation and consideration of station interests. (2) Excepting for the year 1900, for which year the executive committee will act, in March, for the board, the director shall prepare and submit to the board, at its annual (December) meeting, after consultation with members of the staff, plans for the station work and estimates for the expenditures for the following year. After approval by the board it shall be the duty of the director to see that such plans are duly carried out, and thereafter such work, wherever carried on, shall be under his immediate charge or such member of the staff as he may assign to it. (3) Expenditures from the funds under station control shall be on requisition signed by the director, and the bills approved by him before being audited by the executive committee and paid. In the absence of the director at or near the close of the month, some other member of the staff may be designated by him to act in his stead in this regard. (4) Bulletins or other regular publications of the station shall be printed on the approval of the director and authorization of the executive committee. The printing of these shall be done, where possible, on contracts made by the director at the lowest figure obtainable on competitive bids for such work upon uniform specifications. (5) That the director of the station be authorized and instructed to lease such portions of the lands now held by the State Agricultural College for experimental purposes as are not needed for scientific experimentation. Further, that such land shall be leased only on condition that the lessees thereof shall keep and report to the director a complete record of the sowing, irrigation, cultivation, and yield of the crops grown on such lands. (6) Further, that the director be instructed to inaugurate and maintain throughout the station work a fundamental and comprehensive system of experimentation along the line of irrigation and irrigated agriculture without detriment or prejudice to investigations or experiments of the several sections on subjects directly concerning their departments of the station. (7) All rules and regulations relating to the powers of the director or operation of the station which conflict with the above resolutions are repealed. CONNECTICUT. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. The board of control consists of eight members, one appointed by the State agricultural society, one by the State board of agriculture, one by the board of trustees of the Wesleyan University, one by the governing board of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, and two by the governor of Connecticut, with the advice and consent of the senate. These members serve for a term of three years. The governor of the State and the director of the station are also ex officio members of the board of control. The board has general management of the institution and holds at least three meetings annually. More frequent meetings are held by the executive committee, which has adopted the following memorandum for the direction of the members of the station staff: |