406 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 37 



in all its branches, may have a medium through which a f j-ee inter- 

 change of ideas may be brought about; that the field of agricul- 

 tural research, so rapidly developing in America, may have a journal 

 that will serve as a chronicler of work past, present, and to come, so 

 as to form a valuable record of progress in agriculture: that agri- 

 cultural science may be represented in one journal having no com- 

 mercial or selfish motives, whose only effort shall be to uphold and 

 promote investigation and research, and raise the standard of the 

 field and its workers." 



The publication of Agricultural Science continued with some vicis- 

 situdes and changes for eight years. In 1892 the management was 

 assumed by Dr. Wm. Frear of the Pennsylvania State College with 

 a corps of associates from various agricultural colleges, this Depart- 

 ment, and elsewhere, and in 1894 it became the organ of the Society 

 for the Promotion of Agricultural Science. Its final issue, that of 

 December, 1894, appeared in June of the following year. 



During its existence a considerable amount of experimental work 

 was reported in its columns. Much space was also given to abstracts 

 of agricultural literature, although this feature was less extensively 

 developed than in the Record. The journal also contained reports of 

 scientific meetings and other news notes of interest, and afforded 

 opportunity for the discussion of current questions. 



In spite of the unique position thus occupied by Agricultural 

 Science, it appears that among the principal difficulties encountered 

 in its publication was a lack of suitable material. This situation had 

 indeed been predicted by Sci< nee, which in a review of the new 

 journal expressed the opinion that one of the greatest handicaps 

 would prove to be "a paucity of original investigations." Although 

 a considerable body of research was steadily developing, this proph- 

 ecy came true in so far as the material it was desired to publish out- 

 side the station and Department series was coni^erned, and there 

 was also difficulty in obtaining the necessary financial support. 



Following the suspension of Agricultural Science, station workers 

 found themselves for many years restricted in the publication of 

 their technical work to the regular bulletin series and the journals 

 of general science. Much material was also sent abroad, many papers 

 even appearing in German periodicals, notably Centralhlatt fiir 

 Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, und Infektionskrankheiten. With 

 the advent of the Journal of Agricultural Science in England, in 

 1905, numerous American contributions were submitted to that 

 periodical, but owing to a congestion of material and the limited 

 number of issues, long delays of publication were entailed. 



In 1908 the first of the American journals to be devoted to a 

 single division of agricultural science began publication. This was 



