SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR STATIONS.

Correspondence on agricultural subjects is invited. All letters of inquiry will be promptly answered.

Offices and Laboratories in Science Hall, University of South Carolina, at Columbia, S. C.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

COLUMBIA, S. C., January 24th, 1890.

To His Excellency, JOHN PETER RICHARDSON,

Governor of South Carolina :

I have the honor to submit, in accordance with law. the following Annual Report of the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Stations.

J. M. McBRYDE,

Director.

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,

COLUMBIA, January 24. 1890.

Received of Dr. J. M. McBryde, Director of South Carolina Experiment Stations, the Second Annual Report of said Stations for year ending December 31st, 1889.

J. P. RICHARDSON, Governor.

71 778 AA A 30

Acts Relating to the Organization of the
Stations.

In December, 1886, the General Assembly of the State passed the following Act:

"AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE SOUTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL FARMS AND STATIONS.

"SECTION 1. That the Board of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to locate and establish two experimental farms and stations, to be known as the South Carolina Experimental Stations, the objects of which shall be to determine the capacity of new plants for acclimation; the manurial value of fertilizers and composts; testing the purity and vitality of seeds; examining weeds, grasses, and other plants; investigating the growth, requirements, and comparative value of different crops; studying the economic production of milk and butter: and of conducting such other tests, investigations, and experiments in the field as may bear upon questions connected with either the science or practice of agriculture. "SEC. 2. That the said Board shall, as soon after the passage of this Act as practicable, give ninety days notice in not less than three newspapers of this State that they will receive from Counties, communities, or persons, bids, or proposals to donate lands and buildings, or money, for the purpose of establishing said Experimental Farms and Stations.

"SEC. 3. That in selecting the sites of said Experimental Farms the Board may have reference to the healthfulness of locality, the adaptability of the land to represent the variety of soils in the State: Provided, That one shall be located in the Piedmont region of the State and one in the lower tier of Counties.

"SEC. 4. The Board shall employ one Director and such other employees as may be in their judgment necessary for said Stations.

"SEC. 5. That the Board of Agriculture shall take into careful consideration plans and specifications for an Agricultural and Mechanical College, together with probable or approximate cost of the same, and report the result of their investigation to the General Assembly at its next session.

"SEC. 6. That to establish said Experimental Farms and Stations the sum of ten thousand dollars, if so much be necessary, be, and is hereby, appropriated out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and for the support and maintenance of the said Experimental Farms and Stations all moneys arising from privilege tax, or so much as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, except so much as may be necessary to defray the expenses of the Department of Agriculture."

In July, 1887, the Board of Agriculture organized the Stations, provided for in this Act, by locating the upper farm at Spartanburg

and the lower at Darlington-the people of the two Counties, in their anxiety to secure the establishment of the Stations in their midst, having submitted liberal offers-the first. 300 acres of land and $2,000 in money, the second, $5,000 in money. A Director was elected for the Stations and a Superintendent for each farm. Provision was made for the support of the Stations by an annual grant of $5,000 from the funds of the State Department of Agriculture.

In March, 1887, Congress passed an Act making provision for the establishment of experiment stations in all the States and Territories, as follows:

"AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE COLLEGES ESTABLISHED IN THE SEVERAL STATES UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF AN ACT APPROVED JULY 2, 1862, AND OF THE ACTS SUPPLEMENTARY THERETO.

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the United States useful and practical information on subjects connected with agriculture, and to promote scientific investigation and experiment respecting the principles and application of agricultural science, there shall be established, under direction of the college or colleges, or agricultural department of colleges, in each State or Territory established, or which may hereafter be established, in accordance with the provisions of an Act approved July 2, 1862, 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: Prorided, 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.

SEC. 2. That 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.