OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 265 



soil studies; a new departure in agricultural education; and the early 

 literature of agriculture. 



Pressure of matter and the limitations of space have made it neces- 

 sary to condense more in the abstract part of the Record, and to con- 

 fine the abstracts of even the most important articles to a concise 

 statement of the scoj^e and the principal results. In general, the 

 length given to an abstract depends upon the extent and character of 

 the article and its relation or application to science. The most fre- 

 quent suggestion for improving the Record is that more details be 

 given in the abstracts, and to those who do not have access to the for- 

 eign literature in the original or read it readily a fuller abstract would 

 often be of service. The aim has been to give, in tlie 12 numbers of 

 100 pages each which are issued annually, as comprehensive a review 

 as possible of the literature of agricultural science, so as to enable the 

 agricultural investigator and instructor and others whose work requires 

 a knowledge of the progress which is being made, to keep abreast of 

 the times, and to look up the current literature on any phase of agri- 

 cultural science, as occasion requires. There is continued evidence 

 of the usefulness of the Record in its present form and of the Avisdom 

 of its publication as a public document. It fills a place which is not 

 occupied, except in part, by any other periodical in the world, and 

 its publication coukl not be profitably undertaken by any private 

 publishers. Many calls come for it from institutions and sj)ecialists 

 in foreign countries, only a part of which can be met. A large 

 amount of agricultural literature in the shape of books, bulletins, 

 periodicals, and excerpts is now received in exchange for the Record, 

 which is of material assistance in following up the review. 



The detailed subject indexes of the first 12 volumes of the Record 

 and of Bulletin No. 2 of the OflBce, which contains a digest of experi- 

 ment station reports for 1888, have been combined in a general index. 

 This furnishes a complete index to all experiment station work in this 

 country since the passage of the Hatch Act, and to a very large pro- 

 portion of all other contemporaneous literature along lines related to 

 agricultural science. The publication of this index will be of great 

 convenience and value in connection with the work of this Office, and 

 to the large number of experiment station workers and others making 

 constant use of the Record, The index is nearly ready for the printer, 

 and it is hoped that arrangements may be made for its early publi- 

 cation. 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS. 



The miscellaneous publications of the Office consist chiefly of (1) 

 technical bulletins and reports, and (2) Farmers' Bulletins, including 

 the series known as Experiment Station Work. The editorial work 

 involved in the preparation of these i3ublications for submission to the 

 Division of Publications constitutes the business of the editorial 

 division of this Office, of which Mr. W. H. Beal is chief. 



TECHNICAL BULLETINS. 



The Evolution of Reaping Machines, by Merritt Finley Miller (Bul- 

 letin No. 103, pp. 43, pis. 9, fig. 1), is a summarized history of the 

 various stages in the development of reaping machines, showing the 

 more important advances made in developing the perfected modern 

 harvester. 



Results of Investigations on the Rothamsted Soils, being the Lec- 

 tures Delivered under the Provision of the Lawes Agricultural Trust, 



