CONVENTION OF COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 13 



decreasing the cost of meat production, and tliereby making it possil)le for the 

 farmers of the coru-belt region to produce meat animals on high-priced land, 

 are to be found in developixig unimproved areas of land for grazing purposes; 

 utilizing the by-products of the farm, particularly coarse roughage such as 

 stover, straw, and cheap hay; the general adoption of the silo as a means of 

 preserving corn and other crops ; feeding more sheep and hogs because of their 

 well-known efficiency in the utilization of feedstuflfs; and lastly, the selection 

 of more efficient meat animals. 



The Possibilities and Methods of Meat Production in the South were sum- 

 marized by D. T. Gray of North Carolina, who stated that the South was pro- 

 ducing nearly as much meat 25 years ago as to-day. He believed that the ad- 

 vantages of this region in cheap lands and labor, mild climate and long-growing 

 season, and comparative nearness to markets were still underestimated, and 

 despite the cattle tick and other handicaps that success was to be expected 

 upon adapting the industry closely to southern conditions as to feeds, build- 

 ings, etc. 



In the ensuing discussion. Dean C. F. Curtiss, of Iowa, deprecated the export- 

 ing of cotton-seed meal and the subsequent purchase of fertilizers, and suggested 

 cattle feeding as a remedy. Dean W. M. Jardine, of Kansas, and Director 

 H. A. Morgan, of Tennessee, emphasized the need of more live stock in their 

 respective States, but the latter pointed out that the change was difficult to 

 bring about under a tenant system. Director F. B. Linfield, of Montana, 

 believed that a better use of the range by reducing labor costs and utilizing 

 waste products would be beneficial. 



The Administration of Experiment Station Work by Projects was discussed 

 in a paper by Dr. E. W. Allen, of this Office, who concluded as follows : " The 

 project plan of administration seems to furnish the most reliable basis for 

 administering the work and the funds of an experiment station, and has 

 proved satisfactory. It enables a ijroper consideration of new undertakings, 

 before funds are assigned to them ; it insures more thorough planning ; it 

 provides a record of the station's activities; it enables the work to be followed 

 up from time to time, and to be concluded when it ceases to be profitable; 

 it assists in defining the scope of station work and in holding it within its 

 proper field ; it tends toward general economy ; it enables a budget to be made 

 up intelligently, in accordance with the needs or relative importance of indi- 

 vidual undertakings; it provides against inadvertently overloading the pro- 

 gram of work, so that features of it become ineffective for lack of funds ; 

 and it gives an effective basis for discussion and reporting upon the station's 

 work, and for explaining the use of its funds." 



Much interest in the subject was manifested in the discu.ssion following, 

 with a general concurrence in the advantages of the project system. 



The final paper in the section was by Director S. B. Doten, of Nevada, entitled 

 How Can We Advance the Scientific Character of the Work Done in the 

 American Agricultural Exjieriment Stations'? Director Doten believed that the 

 value of a high grade of research is at last becoming recognized, but that every 

 effort must be made to retain suitable men when discovered. Among the con- 

 ditions favorable to research he cited noninterference with the time, the plans, 

 and the work of the investigator, and at the same time supplying the stimula- 

 tion of his best efforts by real leadership. He also advocated the encourage- 

 ment of graduate work among the staffs and the accrediting of station work of 

 the proper grade in the conferring of degrees. Director C. D. Woods, of Maine, 

 stated that the University of Michigan was already making ari'angements along 

 this line. 



