100 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 38 



Under the decree, means of acquiring motor machinery and other farm im- 

 plements will be placed at the disposal of farmers who need them. Fertilizers 

 and seeds will be furnished when necessary, to be paid for immediately or at 

 harvest time. Funds and free technical assistance will also be supplied to 

 those who cultivate new land, land rented bj' the Government, or land requisi- 

 tioned when its proprietors do not develop it. 



Prizes are to be offered and other means provided for maintaining and de- 

 veloping the breeding of cattle. The ministry of labor may obtain the cattle 

 and other material necessary to assist agriculture and may also utilize cattle 

 belonging to the Government. 



To carry on the work a special department is established, provisionally in 

 the ministry of labor, called the department of agricultural mobilization, with 

 consulting commissioners and delegations in various parts of the country com- 

 posed of agricultural engineers, farmers, agricultural syndicates, and associa- 

 tions. A permanent fund of 100,000 escudos (about $50,000) is put at the 

 disposal of the ministry of labor to initiate the work. 



War Emergency Board of American Plant Pathologists. — At the recent meet- 

 ing of the American Phytopathological Society of Pittsburgh, Pa., a war emer- 

 gency board was established. The country has been divided into six districts 

 with a member of the board assigned to each district and with special duties 

 in addition, as follows: Northeast, H. H. Whetzel, chairman, education (college 

 and extension work) ; central east, F. D. Kern, man power census and pub- 

 licity ; Southern States, H. W. Barre, southern problems and needs ; North 

 Central States, G. H. Coons, fungicides and machinery, supplies and prices ; 

 great plains, E. C. Stakman, emergency research ; and Western States, H. P. 

 Barss, western problems and needs. A seventh member, G. R. Lyman, is 

 designated as commissioner at large in connection with a plant disease survey 

 and crop loss estimates being made by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



Miscellaneous. — At the eleventh annual meeting of the American Society of 

 Agricultural Engineers, held at Chicago, December 27 to 29, 1917, officers were 

 elected as follows : President, Daniels Scoates of the Mississippi College ; vice 

 presidents, E. B. Sawyer and I. W. Dickerson; and secretary-treasurer, H. C. 

 Ramsower of the Ohio State University. 



George E. Day, head of the animal husbandry department of the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, resigned January 1 to become secretary of the Dominion 

 Shorthorn Breeders' Association. 



Charles F. Baker has been appointed dean of the college of agriculture of the 

 University of the Philippines. 



