1916] EDITORIAL. 709 



was also made for special conferences of those interested at that 

 Department. 



The report of the standing committee on graduate study described 

 the work at the 1916 session at the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege and discussed the steadily decreasing attendance at these ses- 

 sions. The decline was attributed in part to the large amount of 

 summer work now being required of many members of college facul- 

 ties, but even more directly to the increased facilities now available 

 for systematic graduate study in agriculture and the fact that this 

 instruction could be recognized by academic credit. During the past 

 year 25 institutions registered at least 6 graduate students in agri- 

 culture, and the total was not far from 1,000. The committee recom- 

 mended that, in view of these changing conditions, the 1918 session 

 of the school be postponed for one year, and that the association con- 

 sider at its next meeting the general question of the continuance of 

 the school. This recommendation was accepted by the association. 



Eesolutions presented by a special committee on the death of Dr. 

 J. H. Kastle were adopted by the association. These resolutions 

 included a fitting tribute to Dr. Kastle, stating that in his death the 

 association " has lost a valued member, the science of chemistry one 

 of its most able investigators and teachers, agriculture an exponent 

 of unusual breadth of view, and the scientific world in general a 

 worker conspicuous for his tireless energy in the prosecution of 

 its work and a master in the presentation of the results of his labor." 



The next meeting of the association will probably be held in 

 Massachusetts in October, 1917. An invitation was received to hold 

 the sessions in Springfield, Massachusetts, with a one-day program 

 at Amherst in connection with the celebration of the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of the opening of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

 A vote of preference was given for this procedure, subject to altera- 

 tions if deemed advisable by the executive committee. 



The election of officers resulted in the selection of President K. L. 

 Butterfield, of Massachusetts, as president; President C. A. Lory, 

 of Colorado, President Brown Ayres, of Tennessee, Dean J. L. Coul- 

 ter, of West Virginia, President C. A. Duniway, of Wyoming, and 

 President W. B. Bizzell, of Texas, vice presidents ; and the reelection 

 of the previous secretary-treasurer and bibliographer. The mem- 

 bership of the various committees underwent few changes. President 

 R. A. Pearson, of Iowa, succeeded President Ayres as a member of 

 the executive committee, and Dean E. Davenport, of Illinois, re- 

 placed President Howard Edwards, of Rhode Island, as a member 

 of the committee on graduate study. 



The section officers included, in the college section. President 

 C. C. Thach, of Alabama, chairman, and Dean A. F. Woods, of 



