Ixviii Proceedings of the Botanical Society of 



January i6. Dr. Miller, President, in the chair. Mr. 

 James Rorer spoke on "The Aims and Methods of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington." He said that 

 since 1901 the old Plant Bureaus had been merged into one, 

 under the direction of Professor Galloway, each of the sub- 

 bureaus having a sub-director and corp of workers, the only 

 exception being that of forestry which had been maintained 

 as a distinct department. The four main departments now 

 were: 



(o) Pathology and Physiology. 



(ft) Division of Plant Experiments. 



(c) Division of grasses and forage plants. 



(d) Division of pomology. 



The speaker then described in detail the work of the seed 

 laboratory, including the testing of thousands of samples 

 annually and the collecting of statistics as to the quality of 

 seeds harvested. He then showed how many lines of inves- 

 tigation and experiment were being conducted in the testing 

 of fiber plants, drug and medicinal plants and quite recently 

 in the growing of tea. The interesting results already 

 obtained by the grass and forage bureau in its study of the 

 grazing lands of the western States were referred to, and the 

 equally valuable study of the growth and pollination of the 

 date palm and the fig were shown to be intimately associated 

 with areas in the West suited for the commercial exploita- 

 tion of these plants. 



In connection with plant breeding and selection, he spoke 

 of the hybrids and varieties of orange, cotton and pineapple, 

 some of which gave great promise for the future. The rela- 

 tion and action of nitrifying organisms in enriching soils 

 and increasing the crops of leguminous plants were finally 

 touched on. 



On motion the speaker was cordially thanked for his sug- 

 gestive communication. 



Dr. J. W. Harshberger next gave "Reviews of Botanical 

 Papers Communicated to the Recent Botanical Meetings at 



