CONVENTION OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLE(JES. 511 



he secured for the piirp()S(>. A resolution was later adopted b}^ the 

 association urging such an appropriation, A paper on Agricultural 

 college libraries, prepared and presented b}'^ Miss Josephine A. 

 Clark, Librarian of the Department of Agriculture and a member of 

 this committee, completed the report. This paper emphasized the 

 great importance of libraries as aids to work of investigation and 

 instruction, and pointed out th(^ necessity" of systematic arrangement 

 and complete cataloguing of agricultural college libraries. Arrange- 

 ments in progress by the Librar}^ of the Department for assisting 

 agricultural colleges in classifying and cataloguing their libraries were 

 explained. Of six libraries recently visited by the speaker, onl}^ two 

 were considered well organized and administered. The functions of a 

 libraiy and a librarian were discussed. The paper also reviewed the 

 work done in indexing agricultural literature during the past year. 



The report of the section on horticulture and botany, by L. R. 

 Jones, suumiarized rather fully the more important tendencies and 

 results along these lines during the year. In the discussion of college 

 work, facilities for instruction, courses of study, etc., were considered. 

 The marked strengthening of advanced courses was noted. The 

 demand for specially qualified men in horticulture was stated to exceed 

 the supply. In the discussion of station work, progress in bacterio*- 

 logical and physiological investigations and in the selection and breed- 

 ing of plants was reviewed. The relation of college to station work 

 was discussed at some length. 



M. V. Slingerland submitted the report of the section on ento- 

 mology- The review of progress in this science during the year as 

 presented touched upon the work of the colleges and stations as 

 regards instruction, investigation, inspection, institute work, and cor- 

 respondence. A plea was made for the continuance of the section, 

 and its previous meetings were reviewed. Failure to publish a full 

 account of the section meetings was thought to have been a drawback 

 to the success of the section. 



The report of the section on mechanic arts was presented by the 

 chairman, H. W. Tyler. This reviewed at some length the progress 

 of work in mechanic arts during the year. Data were given con- 

 cerning the courses and attendance in the department of mechanic 

 arts in the several colleges. A proposed outline for the work of the 

 section, especially as regards the character of the papers to be pre- 

 sented at the conventions, was presented and discussed. This had 

 been the subject of considerable correspondence during the year, the 

 results of which were given in condensed form. 



No reports were presented from the sections on agriculture and 

 chemistr}' and on college work. 



The general plan of the graduate summer school of agriculture as 

 proposed by the Ohio State University at the last convention, and 



