of colleges in each state or territory established, or which may hereafter be established, in accordance with the provisions of an act approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled, "an act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts," or any of the supplements to said act, a department to be known and designated as an "agricultural experiment station;" provided, that in any state or territory in which two such colleges have been or may be so established, the appropriation hereinafter made to such state or territory shall be equally divided between such colleges, unless the legislature of such state or territory shall otherwise direct.
Object of experimental stations.Section 2 of an act of congress approved March 2, 1887.
§ [79.] It shall be the object and duty of said experiment stations to conduct original researches or verify experiments 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 useful 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 experiments designed to test their comparative effects on crops of different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and forage plants; the composition and digestibility of the different kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such other researches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States as may in each case be deemed advisable, having due regard to the varying conditions and needs of the respective states or territories.
Duty of United States commissioner of agriculture-Duty of station.Section 3 of an act of congress approved March 2, 1887.
§ [80.] In order to secure, as far as practicable, uniformity of methods and results in the work of said stations, it shall be the duty of the United States commissioner of agriculture to furnish forms, as far as practicable, for the tabulation of results of investigation or experiments; to indicate, from time to time, such lines of inquiry as to him shall seem most important; and, in general, to furnish such advice and assistance as will best promote the purposes of this act. It shall be the duty of each of said stations, annually, on or before the first day of February, to make to the governor of the state or territory in which it is located, a full and detailed report of its operations, including a statement of receipts and expenditures, a copy of which report shall be sent to each of said stations, to the said commissioner of agriculture, and to the secretary of the treasury of the United States.
Bulletins to be published, etc.Section 4 of an act of congress approved March 2, 1887.
§ [81.] Bulletins or reports of progress shall be published at said stations at least once in three months, one copy of which shall be sent to each newspaper in the states or territories in which they are respectively located, and to such individuals actually engaged in farming as may request the same, and as far as the means of the station will permit. Such bulletins or reports and the annual reports of said stations shall be transmitted in the mails of the United States free of charge for postage, under such regulations as the postmaster-general may from time to time prescribe.
Annual appropriation.Section 5 of an act of congress approved March 2, 1887.
§ [82] For the purpose of paying the necessary expenses of conducting investigations and experiments and printing and distributing the results as hereinbefore prescribed, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars per annum is hereby appropriated to
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