CONVENTION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 545 



last meetiug of tlie Association, to the effect that "no delegate shall vote 

 in more than one section and each delegate Shall when presenting his 

 credentials designate the section in which he intends to vote,'"' was indeti- 

 iiitely postponed. 



A report from the special committee on seed testing of the section on 

 horticulture and botany was presented by G. ^McCarthy, of North Caro- 

 lina. He reviewed the advance nnide in seed testing in recent years 

 and called attention to the prevalence of fraud in the seed business. A 

 new form of bacteriological oven, well adapted to use in the germina- 

 tion of seeds, was described. The German methods of testing seeds 

 were declared to be quite satisfactory, and the standards adopted by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture and the Il^orth Carolina 

 Station were claimed to have been used with good results. The impor- 

 tance of uniformitj^ of methods in this country was strongly urged. 



The ibllowing memorial, signed by 37 station directors, was presented: 



The imdersiiijned directors of American experiment stations, recogniziuij the bene- 

 fit to be derived to agriculture from an improvement in the quality of seed merchan- 

 dise and by enabling seedsmen to offer a guarantee of specified quality, request the 

 Association to appoint a committee of experts in seed testing to devise and adojit a 

 standard form of seed-testing apparatus and method of procedure for use in all 

 American stations which shall hereafter publish seed tests, to the end that all such 

 ■work shall be strictly comparable and that seedsmen may guarantee the quality of 

 their seeds according to the official methods. Said committee to report at the next 

 annual convention. 



The following committee was appointed by the president to take charge 

 of the matter: E. H. Jenkins, of Connecticut; G. H. Hicks, of this 

 Department; G. McCarthy, of IS^orth Carolina; F.W. Card, of Nebraska, 

 and W. li. Lazenby, of Ohio. (See p. ooG.) 



A resolution was adopted which recommended a revision to date of 

 the Handbook of Experiment Station Work' and the incorporation in 

 it of summaries of the investigations of this Department, and which 

 set forth further that "there is, in the judgment of this Association, 

 great need of a general index of the publications of the Department, 

 and as the preparation of such an index would almost necessarily pre- 

 cede the niaking of summaries of the Department publications for the 

 Handbook, it is hoped that it will be practicable for the Department to 

 at once undertake the preparation of this index." 



The question of the uniform indexing and consecutive paging of sta- 

 tion publications was referred to the executive committee, which was 

 instructed either "directly or indirectly, by proper reference to commit- 

 tee, to consider it during the year and report at the next convention 

 such method as may seem practicable." 



The privileges of the floor were granted to J. Hamilton, Deputy Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, who addressed the Association 

 on the need of a systematic and complete course of instruction adapted 

 to the use of farmers, and embracing the latest and best infornmtion 



' U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Exi)eriment Stations Bui. 1.5. 



