618 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Coincident with this change is the establishment of the MilchvMrtschaflliches Zentral- 

 blatt as a scientific monthly supplement of the Milch Zeitung. The first number of 

 the MUehvrirtschaftliches Zmtralblatt was issued with the beginning of the year. On 

 the title page appeared the following as associate editors: Professor Albert, Konigs- 

 berg; Director du Roi, Prenzlau; Dr. Herz, Munich; Dr. Hittcher, Kleinhof-Tapiau; 

 Professor Kirchner, Leipzig; Professor Klein, Proskau; Professor Ramm, Dahlem; 

 Dr. Tiemann, Wreschen; Professor Vieth, Hameln; Professor Weigmann, Kiel. 



The first number contains 6 original articles by well-known authors, 7 excellent 

 abstracts, and several brief notes. On the whole, the publication corresponds in 

 character to the Rente generale du lait (E. S. R., 13, p. 1112) and to the Centralblatts 

 along other lines. The high grade of the journal will surely secure for it a hearty 

 welcome by investigators in dairy lines. 



Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. — At the meeting 

 of the association at Philadelphia during the holidays, more than five hundred 

 papers were presented before the various sections and affiliated societies, covering a 

 very wirle range of subjects in the exact and natural sciences and their applications. 

 There were a notable number of papers of popular interest, and among those related 

 to the application of science to industry and daily life agriculture came in for a good 

 share. 



Botanical papers. — The following papers, among others, were presented before the 

 section for botany. In a paper on Observations on the Teratology of the Pineapple, 

 M. T. Cook expressed the belief that a careful study of teratology will be of some 

 service in taxonomy and morphology. Thirteen types of variation on the Smooth 

 Cayenne variety of pineapple were described. Many of these are attributed to the 

 character of the stock, the method of cultivation, or the kind of fertilizer used. 



F. W. Rane described Economic Methods in Restocking White Pine Forests, an 

 account of which js"- : — k under the meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Agri- 

 cultural Science. In Suggestions from the Study of Dairy Fungi, C. Thorn pointed 

 out the desirability of more certain and uniform means of describing and determining 

 common saprophytic fungi, based especially on their physiological and morphological 

 relations. He detailed the characters of certain species of Penicillium grown upon 

 several substrata. In spite of wide variation on different substrata a constantly 

 recurring series of characters were observed, and those of value in the genus were 

 summarized. 



Perley Spaulding, discussing Cultures of Wood-Inhabiting Fungi, stated that it had 

 been found easier to make cultures of wood -rotting fungi from actively growing 

 mycelium than from the spores. Agar made from infusions of the species of wood 

 upon which the fungus is found usually serves to start the growth of the mycelium, 

 which can then be transferred to tubes of sterilized green wood. Inoculations with 

 mycelium of Lenzites sepiaria have shown no parasitic action, but in cut timber have 

 produced fruiting bodies in less than five months. 



The Effect of Climatic Conditions on the Vitality of Seeds was described by J.AV. T. 

 Duvel in a preliminary report of experiments in which seeds were stored in ordinary 

 seed packages and in ah -tight containers. Seeds put up in this way were sent to 60 

 stations throughout the United States, and to a number of places in the tropics and 

 in cold climates. At the expiration of six months and of one year complete sets 

 from each station were returned and tested for vitality. A great deterioration was 

 found in the seeds contained in paper packages which were stored in localities having 

 a warm humid atmosphere, while the seeds put up in air-tight containers preserved 

 their vitality much better under these conditions. In comparatively warm climates 

 seeds showed no appreciable loss of vitality when put up in either way. 



The Germination of Seeds as Affected by Soil Temperature was reported upon by 

 Edgar Brown. From March 2ti to June 30 plantings of twenty different kinds of 

 seeds were made at intervals of two or three days, and records kept of the appear- 



