20 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTS. 

 COOPERATION WITH THE ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTS. 



The patrouage of the Department heretofore extended to the Associa- 

 tion of OlfieialAgTieultiiral Chemists has been continued, and that use- 

 ful association, by the many years of its close relationship to the Depart- 

 ment, may almost be considered as organicall}^ connected with it. The 

 Division of Chemistry has also continued its active cooperation in the 

 work of the association. Among the referees and associate referees of 

 the association may be found the following members of the Division: 



Referees. — E. G. Runyan, phosphoric acid; William H. Krug, foods 

 and feeding stuffs. 



Associate referees. — L. 8. Munson, potash; W. D. Bigelow, liquor 

 and food adulteration; G. L. Spencer, sugar. 



The work of the members of the Division in this connection is not 

 of a routine nature only, but is partaking more and more of the nature 

 of research. There is a growing tendency to look to this Division for 

 a study of new methods, for the purpose of verification, and for all 

 those methods of research which are necessary to the advancement of 

 agricultural chemistry. To this end authority has been given to asso- 

 ciate the chemists of the experiment stations and agricultural colleges 

 in the work of the Department. In no other way has this cooperation 

 proved so effective as through the various channels of activity afforded 

 by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. 



In connection with this work, the Division has carried on investiga- 

 tions in the ordinaiy routine methods of analj'sis of soils, fertilizers, 

 and feeding stuffs; has given special attention to methods for the 

 analj^sis of tanning materials ; and has in j)rogress an extensive studj^ 

 of methods for the analysis of insecticides, including therewith an 

 investigation of the composition and efficacy of insecticides now on 

 the market. In this latter work we have had the active cooperation 

 of the Division of Entomology. 



As a result of the patronage of the Department of Agriculture, which 

 has been extended to the Association of Official Agricultural Chem- 

 ists now for a period of sixteen years, the United States has the best 

 organized, as well as the most numerous, corps of agricultural chem- 

 ists of any nation of the w^orld. While by no means claiming that our 

 methods are the best, they yield results which are more easily comijar- 

 able among themselves than similar analytical data of any other 

 country. By using the same methods in the same way and practi- 

 cally under the same conditions, we secure results which are just, not 

 only because they very closelj' aj^proach absolute accuracy, but also 

 because thej' are uniform and of general application. 



RECOGNITION OF THE WORK OF THE ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL 



CHEMISTS BY OTHER COUNTRIES. 



At the Fourth International Congress of Ajjplied Chemistry, held 

 in Paris in July, 1900, the methods of analysis of the Association of 

 Official Agricultural Chemists were recognized as being of common 

 application, and citations thereto were ordered to be printed as a part 

 of the provisional international methods adopted by the congress. 



The International Association of Leather Trades' Chemists, which 

 met in Paris in August, 1900, adopted a large part of the official methods 

 for the analj^sis of tanning materials which had been previously ap- 

 proved by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, and voted 

 that other portions of these methods be recommended for further trial. 



