CONVENTION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 711 



I. P. Koberts read a paper on Productivity as affected by tillage, 

 in which lie showed that by the employment of better methods of till- 

 age the soil supplies of fertility may be more largely utilized, and thus 

 the necessity for applications of fertilizers may be greatly reduced. 



H. P. Armsby read a preliminary account of feeding experiments at 

 the Pennsylvania Station which are reported in detail elsewhere. 1 



The report of the committee on uniform fertilizer legislation was sub- 

 mitted by H. J. Wheeler, and adopted as submitted. The recommen- 

 dations of the committee will be found elsewhere (E. S. E., 10, p. 506). 

 The only portion of this report which called out any discussion was 

 that relating to the form of guarantee of phosphoric acid, but the 

 recommendation of the committee on this point was finally adopted. 



H. J. Wheeler read a paper on The possibility of drawing erroneous 

 conclusions from plant-soil tests. In this paper, which was based upon 

 the results of experiments at the Rhode Island Station, attention was 

 called to the unreliability of soil tests with fertilizers under certain 

 conditions, e. g., with a deficiency of lime or of available phosphoric 

 acid. Attention was called to the fact that the value of lime as a 

 liberator of inert phosphoric acid may be, in certain soils, of more far- 

 reaching importance than is generally supposed. 



This paper gave rise to considerable discussion, in which the danger 

 of drawing hasty conclusions from experiments with fertilizers was 

 strongly emphasized. 



A paper on The significance of stock-feeding experiments was read 

 by C. F. Curtiss. This paper discusses the progress made in applying 

 scientific principles to practical stock feeding in the United States, and 

 points out the practical value of feeding experiments by the stations in 

 showing the feeder how to raise a better product at a less cost and 

 how to get the greatest return for the feed consumed under varying 

 conditions. In many cases, however, work of this character has been 

 superficial. It should be made more thorough and confined to a few 

 definite lines. 



The report on nomenclature was submitted by H. P. Armsby. Two 

 questions are considered in this report: (1) The terms "concentrates" 

 and "roughage" as applied to feeding stuffs by Henry, and (2) the 

 nomenclature of nitrogenous compounds. As regards the first, the 

 committee was of the opinion that action by the Association was unnec- 

 essary. As regards the second, the committee recommended "for pres- 

 ent use certain collective terms," as follows: 



1. Albuminoids (albumins, globulins, coagulated and com- 

 pound proteids, and other cleavage products down to 

 and including peptones). 

 Collagens or gelatinoids (collagen, elastin, and related 

 nitrogenous bodies specially characteristic of connect- 

 Protein..<! "• ive tissue). 



Nouproteids (a general term for noncoagulable nitrogenous matter, 

 including nitrogenous extractives in the animal, and amids 

 and similar bodies in the plant). 



1 Pennsylvania Sta. Bui. 42. 

 16130— Xo. 8 2 



Proteids 



