A liVXUlW OV PliBLICATIOXS ON AGRICULTURAL r.OTAXY 

 ISSULL) IN FRANCI: DURINi; iSoo. 



EuM<)Ni> Gain, 

 Dean of (he Faciilti/ of the Uuiversiiy of Xannj (France). 



The extended adoption of Held tests lias done much to promote the 

 introduction of scientific methods into practical agriculture. There is 

 no comparison between the system of agricultural education in France 

 twenty years ago and that found to-day. The sui)port given the Agri- 

 cultural Institute of Paris has enabled it to train teachers of agriculture 

 for the dirt'erent provinces of France, and these have had an important 

 inrtuence in improving the ct>ndition of the farmers, aiding them with 

 scientihc information relating to the improvement and cultivation of 

 the soil, the selection and testing of seed, the use of fertilizers, and the 

 treatment of i)Iant diseases and insect enemies. AVithin the past two 

 or three years courses in agriculture liave been established in many of 

 the colleges, and the number of special schools of practical agriculture 

 is increasing, as well as the number of students in such courses. At 

 the same time the number of publications relating to agricultural botany 

 has increased. There is a necessity, however, for the establishment 

 under proper restrictions of courses of agricultural education in the 

 larger universities. While there are many stations for chemical analy- 

 sis of soils and iertilizers in France, there are but two or three for 

 investigation in vegetable pathology and for seed testing, and as a 

 result French literature shows a scarcity of works upon these lines. 



A periodical resume of the work imblished along dillerent lines of 

 investigation will serve to show what is being done and what could be 

 profitably undertaken. In the present paper a review is given of the 

 publications appearing in France during the past year upon agricul- 

 tural botany, the literature being classified under the following heads: 

 Physiological botany, vegetable chemistry, vegetable i)athology, cul- 

 ture, and vegetable products. More than 200 publications on these 

 topics are noted. 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



Through the work of Liebig and Boussingault we know tlie mineral 

 elements entering into the structure of plants. Jlaulin' in his studies 

 on Aspcrf/illH.s ut;/cr determined the elements which are essential to 

 growth and the relative importance of each in intluencing the increase 



'Ann. 8ci. uat. Bot., eer. 5, 11 (1869), p. 190. 



841 



