OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 695 



j^ears before, when no abstract numbers were issued. Even this large 

 increase, however, has proved inadequate to secure as prompt pub- 

 lication of accumulated material as is desirable. With a view to 

 lessening the congestion, as well as to permit of a more complete 

 review of the literature, arrangements have recently been completed 

 whereby two additional abstract numbers will be issued annually. 

 This has involved a change as to the date of issue of these numbers. 

 Hereafter they will constitute Nos. 3, 6, and 9 of each volume in- 

 stead of Nos. 4 and 8 as at present, and will appear at bimonthly 

 intervals, beginning with August, 1911. 



As time goes on the value of the Record as a great repository of 

 information pertaining to agriculture, otherwise available only by 

 an extended examination of the enormous mass of literature which 

 has been published, continues to increase. The 24 volumes thus far 

 issued contain references to no fewer than 85,829 articles, besides edi- 

 torials, special articles, and notes. The experiment station reports 

 abstracted have alone numbered 956, the station bulletins and circu- 

 lars 7,956, and the publications of this department 4,488. The care- 

 fully prepared author and subject indexes to the individual volumes 

 and the general index to Volumes I to XII have greatly enhanced 

 the usefulness of the Record. Considerable progress was made dur- 

 ing the year in the preparation of a similar general index for 

 Volumes XIII to XXV. 



An indication of the usefulness of publications such as the Record 

 for the assembling, preservation, and dissemination of the results of 

 tlie vast fund of agricultural knowledge which is accumulating is 

 afforded by the recent establishment of a publication by the Inter- 

 national Institute of Agriculture at Rome, with its announced pur- 

 pose to '• review without delay the scientific and technical, and in 

 part the legislative, literature of agriculture and the allied indus- 

 tries," and to furnish " a periodical summary of the agricultural 

 literature of the world." This publication, designated " The Bulletin 

 of the Bureau of Agricultural Intelligence and of Plant Diseases," is 

 issued monthly in both English and French editions, each number 

 thus far containing about 200 pages. It is of interest to note that 

 although the Bulletin at present gives more prominence to articles 

 of a popular nature and of more immediate practical interest than 

 has been deemed advisable in the Record, from which it also differs 

 in many other important respects, it is understood to have been pat- 

 terned directly upon it and to have followed many of its details. 



A number of changes in the personnel of the staff engaged in the 

 preparation of the Record occurred during the year. Following the 

 resignation of Mr. J. B. Morman, for several years in charge of the 

 abstracting in rural economics and of the indexing, these duties were 

 divided, the indexing being intrusted to Mr. M. D. Moore and the 

 work in rural economics to Mr. B. B. Hare. A portion of the ab- 

 stracting in veterinary medicine was undertaken by Dr. L. W. Fetzer 

 in addition to his previous duties in agricultural chemistry. Mr. 

 B. W. Tillman was added to the staff in connection with the abstract- 

 ing in soils and fertilizers, and Mr. C. H. Lane in connection with 

 that of agricultural education. 



As heretofore, the editorial management of the Record was in 

 direct charge of Dr. E. W. Allen, assistant director. 



