under the control of the University authorities and form a part of the University system.

The expense of this department is borne entirely by the United States, the money being used for research and publication only. The corps of experimenters, whose names are found under the title "Station Staff," are members of the Purdue faculty and do regular instructional work for a part of their time. The greater part of it, however, is spent in research work-the proper proportion of their salaries being paid from the general University fund and the Hatch fund.

A brief survey of the history of this department during the past ten years will show that it has accomplished a large amount of valuable work.

We are specifically enjoined by law to conduct agricultural research in laboratory and field and to publish the results thereof in quarterly bulletins, which are distributed gratis among the farmers of the State. During the period named fifty-four regular bulletins have been so distributed. These have conveyed useful information on subjects that are supposed to be of special interest to farmers, stock raisers, horticulturists and dairymen.

In addition to these bulletins, we have, during this period, published sixty newspaper bulletins upon similar topics. These have generally appeared in our leading newspapers, thus securing a very wide circulation.

The aggregate number of bulletins published in the past ten years amounts to more than five hundred thousand, or fifty thousand per annum, and the total number of pages distributed amounts to over nine millions, or nine hundred thousand annually.

The following are the exact figures:

Our mailing list has more than doubled since 1893 and now

numbers 14,750.

The question of establishing the sugar beet industry Beet Sugar in the State of Indiana has absorbed a large portion of Industry. Professor H. A. Huston's time during the past ten

years. He has established and supervised one hundred and fortyone subsidiary stations; has sent out seven hundred and forty-four samples of seed; has made nine hundred and three analyses for the determination of the quality of the sugar beet; has published seven bulletins, and has delivered forty-five lectures on this subject.

The following is a summary of the sugar beet work, 1888-1897, under supervision of Prof. Huston:

The growth of this work may be seen from the fact that already, during the present year, we have sent out over 1,700 pounds of seed to 744 different stations, from a large per cent. of which we confidently expect returns and for which we must perform the necessary chemical analyses. In addition to these samples, twentyfive are now being tested on the Purdue farm. The work of this not included in the above summary.

year

is

Tubercu

losis and

Another important department of our work has been Hog in charge of Dr. A. W. Bitting, our veterinarian. BeCholera. sides attending to his various college and station duties, Dr. Bitting has accomplished a large amount of work in his efforts to suppress tuberculosis in cattle, cholera among hogs and various other diseases among the domestic animals.

He has visited nearly every section of the State and has applied the tuberculin test to hundreds of cattle. He has inspected more than five hundred dairy barns and stables, has given one hundred and fifty lectures at farmers' institutes and agricultural and stock conventions, and has published about forty leading articles on veterinary subjects, beside a large number of miscellaneous articles in a similar line.

Possibly the most valuable work which Dr. Bitting has accomplished has been in his efforts towards the suppression of hog cholera. He began this work in 1893, but without any marked results until within the past year. In 1896 the loss from hog cholera in Indiana amounted to the enormous sum of $5,396,000. In 1897 it is estimated that the loss did not exceed one and one-half million dollars. It is impossible to say just how much of this decrease was due to the efforts of Purdue University, but it is generally conceded that we have done some very effective work in this direction.

Scientific
Articles.

No account of the work of Purdue University would be complete unless it included a statement of the papers prepared by members of the faculty which have appeared in various transactions of societies and in technical and scientific journals and magazines. Such a statement would include the following:

In addition to the foregoing, our instructors have written for the press, have attended numerous farmers' institutes and other meetings, and have delivered public addresses on agriculture and other topics all over the State, entirely without compensation. A brief summary of this work will not be out of place.

Prof. Coulter has delivered over a hundred lectures and has done a very considerable amount of work for the press on biological

subjects; Prof. Burrage has given lectures and written many articles on sanitary science; Profs. Stone, Goss, Waldo, Smart and Hatt have delivered illustrated technical lectures in various parts of the State to the amount of fifty; Prof. Plumb has given sixty lectures and has written more than one hundred newspaper articles; Prof. Latta has given about four hundred lectures; Prof. Troop has given one hundred twenty-six lectures and written one hundred thirty newspaper articles; Prof. Huston has given one hundred forty-five lectures, in addition to those on the sugar beet question already named; he has also published over three hundred columns of newspaper articles. The above lectures and articles have been almost wholly upon agricultural subjects.

From the foregoing statements all articles of a purely literary. or historical character have been omitted, although they might be worthy of mention as a part of Purdue's contribution to the spiritual welfare of the State.

A partial bibliography of the more important publications of the Purdue faculty during the past ten years will be found in the Appendix.

FARMERS' INSTITUTES.

There is another line of work which has been placed under the control of the Purdue authorities by the act of March 9, 1889, namely the Farmers' Institutes. The system was inaugurated by the committee in charge under very great difficulties, but, under the superintendency of Prof. W. C. Latta, it has gradually come into popular favor until it is now generally recognized as a powerful agency for increasing the material resources of Indiana.

For four years past the annual appropriation of $5,000 has been found insufficient to meet the necessary expenses of these institutes, and the University has been compelled to supplement it by appropriations from its own funds. It now provides a superintendent, furnishes him with an office, conducts the general financial affairs of the institutes, and places its own corps of professors on call for institute service without extra compensation, and all this without any charge against the Institute fund.

The following table will show the results by years of the institute

In explanation of the above, it may be said that, as a rule, each institute is in session two days, and during that time holds five meetings. The attendance shown in the fourth column is the average attendance for each of the five meetings, and, since many persons attend a part of these only, it is safe to say that the aggregate attendance for the year 1897-8 was thirty thousand.

It should be stated also that, as a result of the county institute movement, farmers' clubs have been established in various parts of the State, some of which hold six special institutes in different parts of their respective counties. The aggregate number of these special institutes was, during the past year, seventy-five. Thus it will be seen that the aggregate number of farmers' institutes held during the year 1897-8 was one hundred and eighty-three. It is almost impossible to estimate the value of these farmers' meetings, which have been inaugurated and, for the most part, supervised by Purdue University.