EDITORIAL. 519 



nuinbcr of men, ropreseuting ditierent hnuiche.sot' science, to collabo- 

 rate in tlieir undertakings and thus to strengthen the work of both. 

 Some of the most successful features of our experiment station work 

 illustrate this quite forcibly. Nearly every experiment station fur- 

 nishes some good examples. We have only to he reminded of some 

 of these to see that cooperation within the station has not necessarily 

 meant sid^ordination. We have come to regard a union of two or more 

 departments as extremely advantageous in many lines of station work, 

 from the standpoint of the individual workers as well as that of the 

 product as a whole. And one of the greatest services of the successful 

 station directors has l)een to bring about a union of effort among mem- 

 bers of the station staff', and to so coordinate and direct the work of 

 different departments that the energies will not be scattered or the 

 work too disconnected and fragmentary. 



The name of Pierre Paul Deherain is familiar to all readers of this 

 journal. For years he has been one of the leading spirits in agricul- 

 tural investigation in France, and is widely known through his writings 

 and his works. His death occurred in Paris December 7, 1902, at the 

 age of seventy-two. 



Deherain's earlier years were occupied in teaching chemistry in the 

 Central School of Agriculture, and in 1865 he was appointed professor 

 of chemistr}" in the Agricultural School at Grignon. In 1881 he was 

 made titular professor of vegetable physiology in the Museum of 

 Natural History at Paris, an honor which he highly prized, and in 

 1887 he was elected a member of the French Academy of Science in 

 the vacanc}" caused by the death of the famous Boussingault. 



During his long connection with the National School of Agriculture 

 at Grignon and the station at that place, of which he was director, his 

 time was devoted principally to investigation of problems in plant 

 nutrition and growth, the culture of various special crops, the fer- 

 mentation of manure, and soil problems. In the latter connection his 

 studies on nitrification, the loss of nitrogen fi-om the soil, and the 

 value of cover crops as an aid to improvement, were conspicuous. In 

 1875 he established his Annates ^agronomiques^ which he continued to 

 edit until the close of his life. His publications in this journal and 

 his Coars de chim.ie agrlcole (1872), Traite de chimie agrlcole (1892, 

 recently revised), and Les engrais^ les ferments de la terre (1895), may 

 be mentioned as among his most important writings on agricultural 

 chemistry. 



Although Deherain's name is not associated with any great discovery, 

 he made very important contributions to the methods of investigation, 

 notably in pot and plat work, and to the problems of plant nutrition 

 and of nitrification. His work was conducted with such care and so 

 thoroughly weighed and digested liefore publication that it inspired a 

 high degree of confidence. His name will occupy a high place in the 

 annals of agricidtural chemistry and plant physiology. 



