1916] EDITORIAL. 607 



grapes, to protect the food supply. We read, also, of efforts to 

 prevent losses other than those due to insects and plant diseases, such 

 as the Idlling off of wild animals, birds, etc., which injure or feed 

 upon farm and garden crops, and of restrictions placed on the 

 feeding of wild game. Unusual stress is laid upon procuring good 

 seed which will yield large returns, and special efforts have been 

 made to provide such supplies. Plant diseases have been studied 

 mainly from the practical side, with special reference to their con- 

 trol. The entomological studies have dealt largely with the relation 

 of insects to the spread of disease. 



Naturally there has been a great deal of work along food lines, 

 with tests of various kinds of material for human food and for feed- 

 ing stuffs. Yeast preparations, for example, have been devised as 

 substitutes for meat, and found very digestible, and an egg substitute 

 has been made from blood serum. Food preservation has taken 

 great strides, especially desiccation by freezing or drying. 



A process has been devised for preparing a cattle food from 

 potatoes which can be kept for a long time with small loss, by 

 fermenting small and refuse potatoes in vats by means of special 

 cultures. To meet the need for stock feed in Germany, methods 

 have been perfected for utilizing straw, peat, and other coarse ma- 

 terials by chemical means and by fermentation, reinforcing the prod- 

 uct with dried yeast or with potato flakes and molasses. Many 

 substitutes for oats have been devised and experimented with, among 

 others one called chicory crumbs, made from dried chicory roots. 



In veterinary lines there has been much investigation upon anti- 

 septics to take the place of more expensive ones, sugar and salt being 

 found effective in many cases in the treatment of animal wounds. 

 The use of polyvalent serum, formerly used in the treatment of 

 human wounds, has been applied to animals. Some of the institu- 

 tions formerly prominent in research work have been quite ex- 

 tensively occupied in serum making. Considerable work in the vet- 

 erinary line is reported as coming from the field service instead of 

 the laboratory. 



In Germany there has been much activity in the fixation of at- 

 mospheric nitrogen, for general uses and for fertilizers, some marked 

 advances having been made in the direction of efficiency and economy. 

 Small beets, cull apples, beet residues, etc., are being employed in 

 alcohol making; and many studies are reported on vegetable sources 

 of oil. 



The testing of farm machinery has been given special impetus on 

 account of shortage of labor, and in some sections ccoperative farm 

 implement societies were formed to provide funds for their purchase 

 649GS°— 16 2 



