NOTES AND COMMENT 



The Division of Biology of the National Research Council has 

 organized a nation-wide . cooperatiion among plant physiologists and 

 agricultural chemists, concerning the general problem of the physio- 

 logical requirements of certain representative agricultural plants. 

 This project is in charge of a special committee consisting of Professor 

 B. E. Livingston, of Johns Hopkins University, Dr. K. F. Kellerman, 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and Professor A. F. Woods, 

 of the Maryland Agricultural College. 



It is planned that the cooperation will carry out experimental work, 

 by water and sand cultures, on wheat and soy bean, for a beginning. 

 The first problem is to determine the best total concentrations and the 

 best sets of salt proportions with 3-salt mixtures, each plant studied 

 being considered in several phases of its development. . For wheat 

 these phases are: (1) the germination phase (until plantlets are 4 cm. 

 high), (2) the seedling phase (for four weeks following the germination 

 phase), (3) the vegetative phase (from end of seedling phase to appear- 

 ance of flowers), and (4) the reproductive phase (from end of vegeta- 

 tive phase to the ripening of grain). Each phase is to be treated sepa- 

 ratelj^ the plants having been grown with the best 3-salt solutions for 

 the preceding phases, respectively. Twenty-one different sets of salt 

 proportions are to be tested with each of the six types of possible 3-salt 

 solutions. 



It is hoped that these tests may be made by a large number of ex- 

 perimenters in different places, all using the same methods so that the 

 results may be comparable, and that many different climatic com- 

 plexes and seasons of the year may be thus included. The general 

 problem falls naturally into convenient portions, so that any worker 

 or group of workers may confine attention to a certain more or less 

 restricted field. All seeds will be supplied from the same source. Of 

 course each worker will publish his results as he may desire, with what- 

 ever interpretation may seem warranted. It is hoped that out of this 

 cooperation may result a clear and definite advance in our knowledge of 

 this aspect of the physiology of nutrition, which not only may be valu- 

 able in a scientific way but also may furnish valuable suggestions to 



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