1 894.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 19 



is Mr. William D. Richardson, of Fredericksburg, Va., and the present 

 courteous and efficient Secretary -Treasurer is Mr. Roy Hopping, of Bloom- 

 field, N. ]., who will gladly furnish further information. By extending the 

 membership all over the United States, it is hoped to make the chapter 

 an important factor in entomological study, and this attempt has the hearty 

 sympathy of the NEWS. It is perhaps not too much to hope that this jour- 

 nal may occasionally be favored with a "circulating" paper from the 

 Chapter. 



EXPERIMENTAL AGRICULTURE. (Chairman Hatch does not agree with 

 the President). Washington, December n. There are at least two rec- 

 ommendations in the President's Message which will not receive the uni- 

 versal sanction of the Democrats in the House. These relate to the ex- 

 tinction of the agricultural experiment stations in the various States and 

 the abolition of the present system of distribution of seeds by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Representative Hatch, the Chairman of the House 

 Committee on Agriculture, is outspoken in his opposition, and says that 

 since the message appeared not a single member has expressed to him a 

 concurrence in the President's position, while scores have come to him 

 and urged him to continue to incorporate in the Agricultural Appropria- 

 tion bill the comparatively small sums necessary for the maintenance of 

 these two features. "The experiment stations were established by an 

 act of Congress approved March 2, 1887," says Mr. Hatch, "and have 

 been exceedingly popular with the representatives of the agricultural 

 interests of the country. Many of these stations have produced remark- 

 able results. They were established by the almost unanimous vote of 

 Congress, there being, as I remember, not even a division on the ques- 

 tion. I remember that after the measure had passed both houses, I went 

 to the W'hite House in company with a number of intelligent and highly 

 reputable gentlemen from some of the agricultural colleges, and Mr. 

 Cleveland, in my presence, spoke in the warmest terms of the measure. 

 It was by his signature that it became a law. Since that time there has 

 been no criticism of the work of these stations, and no controversies ex- 

 cept as to the division of the funds in two or three States. No agricultu- 

 ral association, organization or club," continued Mr. Hatch, "has ever 

 spoken of these experimental stations except in commendation and ap- 

 proval. They have been established about six years, and are now in a 

 condition to render double the service and impart more valuable informa- 

 tion to the States than at any time since they have been in existence. 

 They have erected buildings, provided chemical apparatus, and the ap- 

 propriations from this on will result even more largely than ever in the 

 prosecution of experiments that will be- ol immense value in the diffusion 

 of practical information." 



THE Rev. Dr. John G. Morris, of Baltimore, is probably the oldest en- 

 tomologist in the United States. On November 141!], last, he celebrated 

 his ninetieth birthday. Dr. Morris published the first catalogue of Ameri- 

 can Lepidoptera. 



