98 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



ers' Institutes. In tLis address he called attention to the increased efiforts on 

 the part of the Department to disseminate agricultural information, and pointed 

 out what he regarded as some of the specific needs in agriculture at the present 

 time. Dean E. Davenport, of Illinois, read a paper on Recent Progress in 

 Agriculture. Among recent developments he indicated the trend from studies 

 of problems in production to those in economics and sociology. He predicted 

 that the Smith-Lever Act would insure the perpetuation of the stations as 

 research agencies. 



President K. L. Butterfield discussed the Relations of Farmers' Institutes to 

 Rural Sociology, taking the ground that the institutes had rendered valuable 

 service in stimulating the desire for the betterment of rural conditions. Other 

 addresses on the program included the following : 



Improving our Institute Organization and Methods, by A. P. Sandles, of Ohio; 

 Rural Organizations for Women, by Mrs. Ida S. Harrington, of Rhode Island; 

 The Function of Farmers' Institutes in Promoting Cooperation Among Farm- 

 ers, by E. B. Dorsett, of Pennsylvania ; Promoting Cooperation through Farm- 

 ers' Institutes, by A. D. Wilson, of Minnesota ; Systematic Instruction in the 

 Rural Districts, by G. A. Putnam, of Ontario ; Helping Farm Women, by 

 Mrs. Mary E. Dillard, of Virginia ; The Relation of Home Economics to 

 Farmers' Institutes, by Miss Winifred J. Robinson, of Delaware; Teaching 

 Home Economics at Farmers' Institutes, by Miss Anna Barrows, of New York ; 

 and Songs that Live, by Miss Rose Morgan, of New York, this last maintaining 

 that the country should develop its own standards for music, and that the 

 cultivation of the taste for good music may be a strong factor in keeping the 

 boys and girls on the farm. 



The report of the farmers' institute specialist of this Department, J. M. 

 Stedman, included statistical data as to the progress of the work during the 

 past year. A total of 25,338 half-day sessions were reported, with a total 

 attendance of 3.656,381 persons, or 145 per session. Although data as to the 

 sessions and attendance of movable schools were not included in these figures 

 as in previous years, and the total appropriation of $456,647.51 showed, a de- 

 crease of over $50,000, an increase over 1913 of about 20 per cent in the number 

 of sessions and attendance of the institutes was indicated. 



Ofiicers for the ensuing year were chosen as follows: President. T. B. Parker, 

 of North Carolina ; vice-president, G. A. Gigault, of Quebec ; secretary -treasurer, 

 L. R. Taft, of Michigan ; and executive committee, Edward Van Alstyne, of New 

 York, A. P. Sandles. of Ohio, and Mrs. Henrietta W. Calvin, of Oregon. 



American Society of Animal Production. — This society held its sixth annual 

 meeting at Washington, D. C, November 10 and 11, 1914. 



W. A. Cochel of Kansas opened the sessions with a paper dealing with the 

 causes of the deficiency in the meat supply. He suggested as some of the prob- 

 able remedies the long-term lease to tenants, better financial facilities, the 

 establishment of more uniform market values, the lessening of the cost of pro- 

 duction by the use of home-grown roughage and waste products, and more 

 definite information on methods of management of the breeding herd. 



B. O. Severson reported experiments at the Pennsylvania Station on the cost 

 of maintaining a beef-breeding herd, and the influence of the feeding of cotton- 

 seed meal on the calving ability of cows. Colorimeter tests with cattle were 

 reported by H. P. Armsby, in which he ascribed the increased metabolism of 

 standing cattle over those lying down, of those on heavy ration as compared 

 with those on light ration, and of scrub (nervoiis) cattle over pure-bred (placid) 

 cattle to nervous stimulation rather than to direct digestive processes, the feed 

 rather than muscular exertion appearing to be the determining factor. 



