operations in the field the studies of the use and economy of irrigation waters have attracted widespread attention throughout the irrigated region, and have indicated that there is great opportunity for improvement in the methods and use of water. The result has been a great desire for an accurate and complete showing of facts, on which permanent improvement alone can be based; and wherever the investigations have been undertaken, private individuals and local authorities have lent their hearty cooperation. The preparation of 'working plans' for forest owners, to guide them in caring for and cutting off their forests in a more systematic manner, has proved so popular that the demands last year exceeded the resources of the Division of Forestry. Requests for these plans cover over fifty million acres of forest, and come from private owners, large consumers of timber for manufacturing purposes and public custodians. The Secretary points out the encouraging fact that public interest in forestry is at present not only keener and more widespread than at any time heretofore but 'is growing with a rapidity altogether without precedent.' Quite large increases in appropriation for these irrigation investigations and lines of forestry work are recommended, as well as for soil surveys with reference to the distribution of alkali in the West, location of tobacco soils and other questions. Cooperation with the agricultural experiment stations has now become a prominent feature of the department work, and is heartily endorsed. Congress has recognized this in recent years by giving funds for special investigations to be carried on in cooperation with the stations. This has naturally brought the Department into much closer relations with the stations, and has tended to secure greater stability for the operations of the stations and an increased measure of influence with their own constituents. Not only is such cooperation in the interests of economy, but it strengthens the efficiency of both the Department and the stations as organizations for the improvement of agriculture. As a result of the investigations made the past year of the agricultural conditions in Hawaii and Porto Rico, the Secretary recommends the establishment of experiment stations in these islands.
The growing interest in the work of the National Department of Agriculture is evidenced by the rapidly increasing demand for its publications. Last year three hundred and twenty new publications were issued, and the number of copies printed was considerably over seven million. This was far in excess of any previous year, both in number of publications and total edition. Notwithstanding this fact, the Department was obliged to refuse many applicants for its bulletins and reports, the number of refusals being ten times more numerous than six years ago, when the total edition was only half that of the past year. In addition to these more technical publications, one hundred and eight farmers' bulletins, including reprints, were issued, aggregating two and a third million copies. This furnishes some idea of the enormous activity of the Department in the diffusion of knowledge. But with the growth of its investigations and the consequent increase of material for publication, Secretary Wilson shows that there has not been a commensurate increase in the appropriation for printing, which has now become inadequate to the prompt diffusion of the information acquired. He accordingly requests a material increase in the printing fund for another year, but he questions whether, without some change in the present system of distributing publications, it will be possible to maintain a supply equal to the demand. The distribution has been restricted in several ways within recent years, and mailing lists have been kept revised to prevent waste. In the interest of the greatest usefulness of the Department to applied science and to its constituents, the policy should, if pos-
