EDITORIAL. 311 



Faniicr.s' institutes in Micliig-an also owe their origin to the initia- 

 tive of Doctor Kedzie. In 1S75 he ottered a resolution to the faeulty 

 calling for the appointment of a committee to make arrangements for 

 holding agricultural meetings with farmers, in which members of the 

 faculty, the State hoard, successful farmers, and local talent should 

 participate. He was made chairman of this conunittee. and for twenty 

 years was one of the most popular, forceful, and convincing speakers 

 at these meetings. 



The change in Doctor Kedzie's career from medicine to agricultural 

 chemistry is rather remarkable in two ways. At that period it was 

 not customary to require very advanced chemical instruction in a 

 medical school, and Doctor Kedzie must have l)een unusually pro- 

 ficient in that science to be called to a chair of chemistry after thirteen 

 years of practice as a physician and surgeon. It is still more remark- 

 able that having entered upon his chemical work Avith such an absorb- 

 ing zeal, he retained his position in the medical profession. This is 

 probably due to his connection with the State board of health, of 

 which he was president for two terms. This position brought him 

 prominently before the people of the State as an advocate of various 

 sanitary reforms, and he did not relinquish his efforts in that direction 

 when he voluntarily withdrew from the board in 1881. He was hon- 

 ored alike by the medical and chemical professions by election to the 

 highest offices in their State and National associations. This shows 

 the l)readth and genius of the man, and the broad field through which 

 his influence and strong personality Avere felt. In his death agricul- 

 ture and science have lost an effective teacher, and his college one of 

 its wisest counselors. 



The initial numlji'rof a yearbook of the Russian experiment stations 

 and similar institutions has recently been received. This is to be the 

 organ for summarizing the work of the various institutions for the 

 l)enetit of agriculture in Russia, and thus bringing together the hereto- 

 fore scattered reports of their progress. It is a government pul)lica- 

 tion, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Imperial Domains — 

 Department of Agriculture, and will hereafter appear aniuially. The 

 volume contains over six hundred pages, with numerous illustrations. 

 The plan is not to publish detailed papers, but rather summaries of 

 all the work, classified by subjects and also on a geographical basis. 

 It will not, therefore, replace the present special reports issued ])y the 

 stations, or an)' other form of publication, hut will better ena])le inves- 

 tigators and others to follow the work of the Russian stations as a whole. 

 The widely divergent conditions in different parts of the Kmpire as to 

 climate, soil, biological aspects, and economic status are thought to 

 make a geographical ari'angement the more useful. For example, the 

 work at the institutions in the northern nonchernozem region of Russia 



