COXVENTTON OF (M1LLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 1017 



Opinions as to the vnliic of llic work were highly favorable, though 

 its limitations as an ediic-ational a.uvncv are genei'ally recognized. As 

 a means of strengthening- the institutions in clientage and j)ublic con- 

 fidence their existence seems to have been fully justified. The i)resent 

 is apparently a period of transition, with a tendency to reduce the 

 amount of the more extended short-course work and to place greater 

 emphasis on that of college grade — a condition likely to be accentuated 

 by the develoi)ment of agricultural instruction in secondary schools. 

 In the sj)eaker's opinion, still further al)breviati()n of the shoi't courses 

 was to be expected and their eventual classification with extension 

 woi'k. 



Ill the discUvSsion which followed the consensus of opinion seemed 

 to be that the secondary schools would not supplant the short courses,' 

 but would modify their character to a marked degree and make their 

 chief function that of centers of specialized instruction. 



SECTIOX ON EXPERIMENT STATION WORK. 



The general subject of the ])apers presentf^l Ixd'ore this section was 

 Present Day Problems in Plant Pathology. Under this heading 

 Prof. M. V. Slingerland considered The More Ui'gent Problems in 

 Insect Control, the problems being classified as national and local. 

 In the first class were placed such introduced insects as the cotton- 

 boll weevil and the gipsy moth, which menace great induistries or the 

 general agriculture of whole sections, and such questions as a national 

 quarantine against insects and uniform nursery inspection laws, the 

 solution of which must depend largely on national action. Of prob- 

 lems of a more local nature the San Jose scale, codling moth, peach 

 borer, plum curculio. Avoolly aj^his, and apple maggot were reported 

 as especially needing consideration, together with a general study of 

 insects living under ground, forest and greenhouse insects, plant lice, 

 and many others. To gain control of these, exhaustive studies of 

 climatic and other complex factors are necessar3^ Owing to the vast- 

 ness of the field in this country, and the manifold demands made 

 upon the entomologist for various kinds of Avork, it was stated that 

 few, if any, of the insect problems had been worked out to the entire 

 satisfaction of entomologists and agriculturists. 



In a paper on Progress in the Control of Fungus and Bacterial 

 Plant Diseases, Prof. F. C SteAvart expressed the opinion that more 

 progress in the actual control of fungus diseases had been achieved 

 during the past twentj'-five years than in all previous time. This is 

 due largel}^ to the discovery and application of fungicides. A certain 

 amount of assistance is probable from the selection of disease-resistant 

 varieties, although it was believed that the importance of this factor 

 may have been greatly overestimated. Much has still to be done on 



