542 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



tlian cstiauitos, und (4) the uniting- of all (iovernnient jstatistical agencies 

 under one management. 



The Sources and Margin of Error in Census Work was the sul)iect 

 of ti paper hy Le (xrand Powers, Chief Statistician for Agriculture, 

 U. S. Census. This dealt mostly with errors in the census of agricul- 

 ture, tlic principal sources of which were said to be omissions and 

 duplications on the part of census enumerators. In most branches of 

 census work omissions and duplications nearly balance, but in the 

 census of agriculture, comparisons with the records of assessed land 

 show that the omissions exceed the duplications, the excess amounting 

 in farm areas to 40, 000, 000 acres, or 5 per cent. The omissions are 

 .most numerous in sparsely settled regions where there is much irreg- 

 ular land surface; the duplications, in thickly settled communities, 

 especially where tenant farming prevails and both tenant and proprie- 

 tor report on the same items. 



Discussing the Economic Value of the Remaining Pu))lic Lands, 

 J. D. Whelpley pointed out the extent and conditions of these lands 

 and ottered some suggestions regarding their management, the most 

 important of which was that speculation in them should be stopped by 

 limiting their disposition to those only who intend to build homes on 

 them. 



The Social Asjiects of the Irrigation Prolilem were presented in a 

 paper by Guy E. Mitchell. 



Miss Louise Klein Miller, Director of the Lowthorpe School of 

 Horticulture and Landscape Gardening for Women, discussed School 

 Gardens, pointing out the function of the school garden as an agency 

 for promoting logical instruction in nature study and elementar}" agri- 

 culture. A brief account was given of the school garden movement 

 in Europe and America, followed by a more detailed account of Miss 

 Miller's own work at Groton, Mass. 



NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The organization and the scientilic and economic work of this Depart- 

 ment were presented by a number of the cuiefs of bureaus at various 

 meetings of the association during the week. 



The work of the Weather Bureau, as described ))y Willis L. Moore, 

 is the broadest survey of the kind ever made, with an extent north 

 and south of 8,000 miles and east and west an equal distance. The 

 practical workings of the Bureau were mentioned, and some striking 

 evidences of the value of its predictions on land and sea were cited. 



The economic work of the Bureau of Soils was outlined by Milton 

 Whitney. Maps were exhibited to illustrate the location and extent 

 of the soil surveys made by the Bureau during the past four years, and 

 brief reference was made to some of the results of economic impor- 

 tance. Special mention was made of the Sumatra tobacco industry 



