226 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the Association of Offi- 

 cial Agricultural Chemists, H. W. Wiley ( U. S. Dept. Ayr., Division of Chemistry 

 Bui. 49, pp. 127). — This is a detailed account of the proceedings of the convention 

 held at Washington November 6, 7, 9, 1896. A brief account of this meeting has 

 already been given in the Record (E. S. R., 8, p. 272). 



BOTANY. 



The decomposition of protein during germination, D. N. Pri- 

 ANISHNIKOW (Izv. Moskov. 8elsTc. Inst. [Ann. Agron. Inst. Moscou], 1 

 (1895), pp. 153-206). — The author quotes the work of Boussingault, 

 Pfeffer, Borodin, and others, and gives a summary of the present views 

 regarding the function of asparagin in germination. He agrees with 

 the theories advanced by Schulze rather than those of Pfeffer. Schulze's 

 experiments (E. S. P., 7, p. 748) were made with lupines, which are rich 

 in nitrogenous substances and poor in carbohydrates. 



The author made experiments similar to those of Schulze with Yicia 

 sativa, which contains a large amount of carbohydrates, i. e., 40 per 

 cent. Experiments were also made to determine whether regeneration 

 of asparagin into protein is possible without the action of light when 

 carbohydrates are supplied artificially, and to study the influence of 

 calcium salts on the decomposition of protein in germination. 



The results of the author's experiments are discussed at length. The 

 principal conclusions reached were the following: 



Asparagin is formed in germinating seeds without regard to the 

 amount or kind of carbohydrates present. Supplying the germinating 

 seed with carbohydrates by artificial means did not cause regeneration 

 of asparagin to protein. The distribution of asparagin in the germi- 

 nating plant is not such as would be expected if it were formed in the 

 cotyledons and consumed at the point of growth. Hence it appears 

 improbable that asparagin serves for the transportation and regenera- 

 tion of protein, as Pfeffer teaches. In the author's opinion Boussin- 

 gault's view is more in accordance with facts. He believed that aspar- 

 agin is formed in the etiolated plant as a decomposition product in the 

 same way that urea is formed in the animal organism. Nonnitrogenous 

 substances are not without influence on the decomposition of protein in 

 the plant. They retard it, as is the case in the animal organism. 



The theory thait carbohydrates are oxidation products of protein, in 

 the author's opinion lacks proof. Calcium salts accelerate the decom- 

 position of protein in germination. The protein in etiolated and normal 

 plants contains practically the same nitrogenous compounds in different 

 proportions. — P. fireman. 



Report of the botanist, P. H. Mell (Alabama College Sta. Bpt. 1895, 

 pp. 9-14). — The additions made to the botanical department during 

 the year in the way of instruments and the like are mentioned, and the 

 seeds planted in the botanical garden during the season are enumerated 

 by varieties. Seed of Eagi millet (JEleusine corocana) } Kodo millet 



