NOTES. 97 



Ricks, the assistant agronomist. A. B. McKay, horticulturist, has been given 

 the additional duties of vice director. James Lewis has resigned as veteri- 

 narian and has been succeeded by Dr. E. M. Ranck. 



Cornell ITniversity. — A new^ plan for the administration of the college of agri- 

 culture went into effect January 1. The general supervision of the college 

 remains with the full board of trustees, but the more immediate oversight has 

 been delegated to a special committee of 11, to be known as the Agricultural 

 College CJouncil. This council is made up of the 5 trustees appointed by the 

 governor, the president of the university, the trustee elected by the State 

 Grange, the state conmiissioner of agriculture, the president of the state agri- 

 cultural society, and two trustees to be selected by the board of trustees, one 

 of these being chosen from those elected by the alumni. 



E. G. Montgomery, experimental agronomist of the Nebraska University and 

 Station, has accepted the position of professor of field crops, 



Pennsylvania Institute of Animal Nutrition. — K. K. Jones, a 1910 graduate of 

 Fairmount College, has been appointed assistant in animal nutrition. 



Porto Rico University. — R. I. Smith, of the North Carolina College and Station, 

 E. A. Cockefair. professor of agriculture in the State Normal School at Cape 

 Girardeau, Mo., and Arthur D. Cromwell and S. K. White, of Iowa, have ac- 

 cepted positions in connection with the extension work of the college of 

 agriculture. 



Texas College and Station. — Harper Dean and F. B. Paddock, of the college 

 staff, have been appointed assistant entomologists in the station, the former 

 giving his entire time to station work. 



Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. — The twenty-eighth annual con- 

 vention of this association was held November 22-24. 1911, in Washington, 

 D. C, with an attendance of over 200 persons. 



The president of the association, F. W. Woll, delivered the annual address, 

 which dealt primarily with the historical development of the association. A 

 comparison was made between what constituted agricultural chemistry in the 

 early days and what it represents to-day, and attention was directed to the part 

 played by members of the association in the advancement of this branch of 

 science. Recommendations were also submitted for additional cooperative 

 \^ ork. 



On the invitation of the association Secretary of Agriculture Wilson delivered 

 an address in which he pointed out the role played by agricultural chemists in 

 the furtherance of the science of agriculture and the extent to which "the 

 processes which occur during plant growth and in the soil can be explained in 

 the light of present-day chemistry. An invitation to participate in the Inter- 

 national Congress of Applied Chemistry at its 1912 meeting in this country 

 was presented by Dr. Wiley. 



H. D. Haskins, referee on phosphoric acid, reported a study of the Wagner 

 method and various modifications thereof as a means for determining the 

 availability of phosphoric acid in basic slag. In this connection a resume was 

 given of work extending over a period of 15 years which has been done by var- 

 ious workers. After discussing the cooperative work of the various analysts, the 

 referee also read a paper on work done at the Massachusetts Station in regard 

 to the efficiency of different phosphates. The results in 9 out of 14 years of 

 work brought out the fact that basic slag as a source of phosphoric acid was 

 superior to both acid phosphate and dissolved bone black. On the recom- 

 mendation of the referee and associate referee the Wagner method was 

 adopted provisionally by the association. 



