Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1917-09-25

SUPPORTED CHIEFLY By FEDERAL
APPROPRIATIONS.

Not long ago q Maine paper spok,
derisively OF research work st the
Maine Experiment Station and referred
to Station publication on 'Breedins
Guinea Pigs to Determine the Value OF
. Dairy Cow" and said that this probabl,
| cost the COW mixers of the state thou
sands Of dollars. There are st leas,
four troubles with this statement. The
Station has not owned Q guinea Dig 70,
20 years, has never attempted to deter
mine the value Of . dairy COW by In.
direct methods, has not published under
the title named and the principal part OF
the appropriations for the Station
como from the Federal Government and
not the State.
Maine has had an experiment station
since 1885. 1t has been foremost In
every agricultural advancement made
in the state. Hundreds Of farmers are
following station methods which they
have CLEANED from station bulletins.
Still larger numbers are following these
methods, not knowing they are station
methods, because they learned them BY
watching what their successful up- to-
date neighbors were doing. But not
withstanding the long existence and the
prominent part of the station In Names
agriculture, there are many who do not
have clear idea Of the scope Of the
stations work and the sources from
which the funds are derived that sup
port it.
Rather more than generation ago the
Congress of the United States passed an
act known as the Hatch Act because II
was introduced by Representative
Hatch of MissourD looking toward the
establishment Of An experiment station
in each state and territory of the United
States. This provided an annual In
come of $4,000 from the Federal
Treasury. A dozen years ago this
appropriation Was supplemented by Q
grant carrying like amount OF money
annually by an act Of congress called
the Adams act, so-cslled because 1t was
introduced by Representative Adams
from Wisconsin. It 10 this annual
appropriation of $S0, 900 from the federal
government that chiefly maintains the
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station.
The State Of Maine has purchased two
farms for the use of the station. One of
these 10 In the town of Monmouth, Ken
nebec County, and the other 10 Presque
Isle, AroostOok County. A few years
age the dairymen Of the State obtained
an annual appropriation OF 5000 for
scientific Investigations In animal hus-
bandry, and since 1915 the state has
appro ropriated q, 900 . year for scientific
Investigations bearing upon the sgri-
culture of Aroostook County. Also the
State, because it has no other labora-
tories In which ir can be done, makes it
part of the duty Of the director OF the
station to analyze the samples collected
by the commissioner Of agriculture In
the enforcement of the laws regulating
the sale of agricultural seeds, commercial
feeding stuffs, commercial fertilizers,
dairy products, drugs, foods, fungicides,
and insecticides. The expense OF doing
this work 10 met by appropriations and
fees made to the commissioner OF sgri-
culture.
The total income Of the Maine Agri-
cultural Experiment Station averages
about S6O, 900 annually. About ONE
sixth of this is borne by direct state
appropriations. This cost Ia 20 slignt
that person who pays taxes on $oO,Vo
contributes about one cent year to the
support OF the work of investigation at
this Station. The Federal money comes
from the country a. . whole. As the
State of New York contains about one
tenth of the wealth Of the country 1t
bears about that proportion of the cost
of maintaining the agricultural expert
ment stations of the whole country
CHAs. D. WOODS, Director.