77 At 'the request of W. L. Broun, President of ~ theCollege a copy of an original letter addressed by the Governor of the State to Hon. C: S. Fairchild was ordered .,'iiJ. ~I\d upon the reco~ds . Chief Executive Office Subject: .Agricultural Experiment Stations' Montgomery, Alabama Novemer 12, 1881 Hon. C. S. Fairchild Secty of Treasury Washington, D. C. Dear Sir Whereas on the second day of. March, 1887, the' Congress of the' United States passed "An Act to establish agricultural experiment stations in connection with the colleges, established in the several states under the provisions of an Act , approved j~ly 2, 1862, and of the acts ;ru.pplementary ,ther.eto f' and whereas ' by the ninth section of said Act the grant of ~one~ authorized thereby is suvject to tne assent, of ,the several states vand ,territories to the purposes of said grant; and whereas the Legislature of. Alabama did adjourn sine die on' t,he' 28th February, 1887, without assenting thereto and the next, regular session thereof does not ~_/ occur with' th~ 13t~ day of November, 1888; and whereas s~id section 9 provi des in such an "event for the exercise of the discretion 'of the Governpr of 'said state now therefore, .I, Thomas Seay, ~overnor of the State Qf Alabama, ' do hereby assent to the grant of the money authroized by the act 'approved March' '2,' 1881. Very respeqtfully Thomas Seay ... Department ~f Agriculture: and proceeding~ relB,ting thereot, February 24, '1888 " At a. cal~ed meettng ,of the Board of Trustees of t~e Agri cultural land Mechanical College of Alabama by order of Thomas- Seay, ,Governor of the State, and ex officio President of the Board, the Board met· in the office of the GovernQr on the 24th od February" 1888. On call of the roll there were present The Governor Thomas Seay, Pres. ex officio Palmer, Sup~ . Education Bishcip Haralson ;Kolb Langdon Ligon Malone Stansel Absent Gilchrist 18 On motion of Mr. Langdon that the Presi~ent of the College submit sucnreports --~ as he has prepared for the consideration of the Board. The President thereupon read the following report:' Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees: I respectfully submit the following report in ~elation 'to the Agricultural ~eriment Station to be established in connect ion with the college under the act of Congress approved March 2, 1881. The grants of money authorized Qy this act of Congress are conditioned in the assent of the Legislature as of the Governor of the State to the purposes of the act. The Legislature having adjourned prior to the approval of the act, the November 12, the Governor ~n mbalf of the state of Alabama gave the assent required for the acceptance 'of the t rust by the authorities of the college. Whatever credit belongs to the originators of the Agricultural Experiment Stat iBn bill rightly attaches. to the several ,agr i cutlural colleges of the state ~ ~ They ·were the f i rst t o r ecogni ze their i.pbility . to promote the large and varied interest s of agriculture as they should be by m~rely · -teaching stUdents . under t heir charge' the elements of those sciences that relate thereto and were among the first to urge that investigation and researc ~ with e~erimen 1;,.5 for verification and discovery· and dis'semination of results to those engaged in practical agriculture were the proper means to ef fect general improvement. These coll~ges appreciqted the inportance to one county of a wide dissemination of the principles of a na~iona1 agriculture - whereby: exhausted soils can be renovated ' and made fertile and the . .fert:Llity of the virgin soils retairied; and in conjunction with intelligent farmers throughout the country they pressed this measure upon Congress, insisting that the gradual exhaustion of the cultivated coil as shown on _official reports demonstrated that means should be adopted commensurate with the importance of the results to be accomplished. The demand for the eStablishment of these stations finally exhibited such unanimity as to· secure compliance then with in the enactment of what is known as t he Hatch Act whereby' there is established in each state and teITitpry in connection with the ~and grand colletes an agricultural experiment station. The duty of the college established by the act of 1862 is to teach. The duty of the college established by the act of i887. is to investigate.,The act, constitutes a grand national endowment of research in behalf of agriculture. Object' 'Of the. Station ' . ' The act of Congress defines the purposes of the grant ~ be: (1) to diffuse among the people useful and practical information on subjects connected with agriculture ~2) to promote scientific investigation and e~iments respecting I the principles"of agricultural science. It more definitely dEdares in Section f 2 of s aid act the object and duty of the experiment station to be "to conduct researches or verify experiments in the physiology of plants and animals-, _l the diseases to which they are severally subject with the remedies for the same --the chemical compositions of useful plants at their. different stages of , . 79 growth - the advantages of rotation' of crops as purpued under a 'varying - series of crops - the capacity of new plants or, trees for acclimation - the analysis of soils and water - the chemical compsotion of manures; natrual and artificial with experiments to t est their comparative effects upon 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 and experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States as may be in each case deemed advisavle.' ' The experiment station as is seen from this enumeration of duties is not to be simply a fann or plot of land where experiMents in 'crops and fertilizers are to be made/ but is do be an organization of men qualified by study and training in science for experimentat ion ,and research,whose tlble and energy will be given to the investigation of subjects of scientific and pratical 'interest to agriculture. Therefore the station must have a practical and scientific side. It 'must ; consider agriculture both as ~ ari art and a science. ~ Its Duty Will Be ' 1st To acquire and diffuse' to those enga&ed 'in farming useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture of, interest and profit. - 2. To engage in scientific investigation and research in relation to the nUmber questions that belong to the ~arge 'and varied interests of -agriculture, questions which can only be determined by repeated experiment and the continued study of scientific experts. To make this station a success and of value to the farms each 'side of its work must be held to the highest efficiency both by the appointment 'of officers of large and extended knowledge relating to 'agriculture as practiced in the South as well as of those who -by long · and successful study in tbe Depar.tment of 'Natrual Science become qualified to engage in scientific research. , Location, ; , The Experiment Station by act of Congress 1S placed under control of the Trustees of the Agricultural and Mechanical College and hence must be located at the college to 'secure. the advantages o..f the farm buildings ana. the equipment al r ~dY provided ancr -the _services of the offibers of the college engaged in kindred subjects. It field experiments in agriculture were made only at one location in the' state, 1£ would not be possible to select anyone such place that would represent in soil, and climate all the different agricultural sections which compose the whole state. Hence then will at once arise the necessity on the part of the station of select. ~ l in each one of the different agri'cul tural sections of the j tate one or mope intelligent and progressive farmers who will repeat',accordfug to I careful and specific direction, the experiments desired and report the reSults to the station. These adjuncts of the station have been found of great value in other states in multiplying experiments under varying conditions. The reliability of the general average of the results will be thereby increased and the interest in the work of the station throughout the state largely extended. 80 In this manner all the different sections of the state can be represented in the experiment station at a minimum cost and all valuable work accomplished -...-- that can be done a t a separate farm 'or station designed only for field experiments These different results when reported would under this S,1stem be compared and analyzed and conclusions of value drawn by a corps of officers assigned to station dut,y while the field experiments would be made ,t& represent the 'different agricultural sections of the state. " ' Nor does it follow that all the officers of the station shQuld necessarily be at the college especially specialists though nonresidents who are skilled in scientific work could be profitably employed to investigate those subjects to which they have devoted year s of study. Work ' of 'the Station Field experiments of crops, seeds, f ertilizers, arid different modes of cultivation will constitute a large and important work of the station, 'but only a part of its legitimate work. "When field by the work of the chemical laboratory and by the cultivation of plants with .different soils eliminated, they are 'given little weight by scientific agriculturists in the search for results of value.