306 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



tion of the university community at Columbia, as well as of the 

 members of the Graduate School. 



The course in agronomy dealt with special problems in the breed- 

 ing and nutrition of field crops, with reference to conditions in both 

 humid and arid regions. Dr. H. L. Shantz, of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, considered the relation of moisture supply to plant devel- 

 opment, and Director C. E. Thorne, of the Ohio Experiment Station, 

 some of the practical aspects of soil fertility investigations. Other 

 factors in crop production were treated b}^ Prof. C. V. Piper, of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, and Dr. L. H. Smith, of the University 

 of Illinois, the former dealing especially with the climatic, soil, and 

 biological adaptations of forage i^lants and the origin of crop varie- 

 ties, and the latter discussing crop improvement through selection in 

 corn and other cereals. 



The work in animal husbandry was largely a presentation of 

 important methods and results connected with the investigations 

 Avhich have been in progress for a number of years at the Missouri 

 Experiment Station. Prof. C. H. Eckles gave the results of studies 

 with dairy cattle, including factors influencing growth, milk secre- 

 tion, and the composition of milk and milk fat, and the development 

 and composition of the fetus. Dean Mumford discussed age as a 

 factor in animal breeding and the growth curves of animals on dif- 

 ferent planes of nutrition. H. O. Allison reported on cattle feeding 

 experiments, including nutrition studies on beef-breeding cows. Dr. 

 P. F. Trowbridge discussed the composition of beef animals, changes 

 during growth, fattening and starvation, variations in adipose tis- 

 sue, and the digestion factors. The account of the Missouri work 

 was appropriately supplemented by discussions based especially on 

 the extensive investigations in animal chemistry conducted by Dr. 

 H. S. Grindley at the Illinois Station. He pointed out the relation 

 of his work and that of other investigators to special problems in 

 animal nutrition such as the specific effects of feeds or rations, par- 

 ticularly protein, upon the nutrition of animals, changes in tlie ani- 

 mal bodj^ during growth, feeding experiments, and the digestibilitj" 

 of feeds and rations. 



In the course in horticulture. Prof. J. C. Whitten, of the Uni- 

 versity of Missouri, reported upon the influence of high-producing 

 and low-producing parent fruit trees upon progeny propagated by 

 bud selection, the influence of the season of transplanting upon the 

 development of fruit trees, and an investigation of factors affecting 

 hardiness. Prof. W. L. Howard, of the same institution, considered 

 the rest period as related to hardiness and some physiological changes 

 accompanying the breaking of the rest period. Prof. H. J. Eustace, 

 of the Michigan Agricultural College, discussed horticultural crop 

 regioii- of the United States, the holding, moving, and storing of 



