THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



lasting, I was perhaps more particularly impressed by the per- 

 sonality of M. de Meline, former Minister of Agriculture of 

 France. He was one of the most delightful men I have ever 

 met, charmingly courteous, quick of wit, a wonderful speaker 

 and apparently a thorough internationalist. He was at that 

 time the president of the International Commission for Agri- 

 culture, and he held that position until the time of his death, 

 many years later. The function of this commission was to 

 arrange for the International Congresses of Agriculture held 

 in different countries at intervals of three years, to prepare 

 the programs, and in occasional intervening meetings at Paris 

 to look over agricultural conditions for the whole world and 

 thus to decide upon the questions to be discussed seriously at 

 the congresses. Many of the functions of this commission, 

 especially its broader ones, were afterwards assumed by the 

 International Institute of Agriculture, which was founded with 

 headquarters at Rome. The commission really acted as a per- 

 manent executive committee of the International Congresses. 



This commission had apparently held a meeting before the 

 final dinner of the Congress, and in the enthusiastic good fel- 

 lowship coming with the breaking-up of the dinner, M. de 

 Meline shook me warmly by the hand and told me that I had 

 been elected the American member of the Commission. I have 

 held this membership ever since, and have occasionally attended 

 the meetings of the commission in Paris, which have always 

 been held impressively in the great hall of the Academic d'Agri- 

 culture in the Rue de Belle Chasse. Incidentally, it may be stated 

 that after the death of M. de Meline he was succeeded by the 

 Marquis de Vogue, who still presides. One of the most charming 

 and remarkable personalities I used to meet at these meetings, 

 a man of whom I was particularly fond, was M. Tisserand, 



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