VJM] EDITORIAL. 405 



seventeen principal subject divisions. Not infrequently the sufj:ges- 

 tion is advanced that the usefulness of the Record could be increased, 

 irrespective of the scheme of classification, by a more or less detailed 

 sj'stem of cross-references or b}'^ some other device whereby the 

 specialist could locate more rapidly, and pi-eferably in a single place, 

 all abstracts dealing with his immediate field of work, '^ 



These suggestions and all others advanced in a constructive spirit 

 are, of course, most welcome. The fundamental object of an abstract 

 journal is service, and the chief purpose of classification is obvi- 

 ouvsly to save time. If, either by modification or radical revision, 

 substantial imj^rovements in the Record system seem attainable their 

 prompt and careful consideration can be relied upon. 



The question of the best system of classification is one which is 

 nearl}^ as old as the Record itself, and the present system is the 

 result of considerable evolution. For the first two years of its 

 existence, the Record confined its abstracts to the publications of the 

 experiment stations and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and 

 in Volume 1 the only classification attempted was on an institu- 

 tional basis. The same arrangement was followed in Volumes 2 

 and 3. but a combined subject list of abstracts was prepared with 

 twenty-one subdivisions. Beginning with Volume 4, a topical ar- 

 rangement was attempted for the station work, although abstracts 

 of Department publications and those from foreign institutions were 

 still segregated without formal classification. This plan continued 

 until 1894, when the topical arrangement was extended to all ab- 

 stracts. It ma}^ be of interest to note that Volume 6, the first in 

 which the new plan was followed, contained 1,606 articles, occupying 

 773 pages, or somewhat less than one-fourth the number of articles 

 and one-half the space available for Volumes 41 and 42, issued during 

 the corresponding period ended June 30, 1920. 



The plan adopted in Volume 6 inclvKled nineteen main divisions 

 as follows : Chemistry, Botany, Bacteriology, Zoology, Meteorology, 

 Water and Soils, Fertilizers, Field Crops, Horticulture, Forestry, 

 Seeds and Weeds, Diseases of Plants, Entomology, Foods and Ani- 

 mal Production, Veterinary Science, Dairying, Technology, Agricul- 

 tural P^ngineering, and Statistics. With relatively minor changes, 

 such as the abolition of the separate sections on Bacteriology and 

 Technology and the separation of Foods and Animal Production, 

 this scheme remained in operation until Volume 17 in 1905, when 

 sul)stantially the present terminology and arrangement was substi- 

 tuted. Soils was then combined with Fertilizers, Seeds and Weeds 

 with Field Crops, and Water with Meteorology, while new sections 

 were begun in Rural Economics and Agricultural Education. Vir- 

 tually the only changes since that time have been in the tentative 



