406 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 43 



combination of Agroteclmy with Dairying and its relocation in 1909 

 with Agricultural Chemistry, and the transfer in 1915 of Water from 

 Meteorology to Rural Engineering. 



The classification has thus been substantially stabilized for fifteen 

 years, and as regards its basic principles and primary divisions for 

 a much longer period. Since the Record is a permanent work of 

 reference, this continuity probably constitutes one of the greatest 

 assets of the system to-day. Despite its admitted imperfections 

 readers have become accustomed to it, and its use is thus attended 

 with a corresponding minimum of uncertainty and confusion. 



The system has also demonstrated its practical workability to a 

 remarkable degree. Despite the development of such subjects as 

 agronom.y, genetics, biometrics, farm management, and others since 

 its adoption, its flexibility has been such as to find a place or 

 places for all these branches within its limits. Whether a new sys- 

 tem would prove equally inclusive could only be ascertained by 

 actual trial. 



The inclusiveness of the present system is, as a matter of fact, 

 also one of its greatest objections. Consisting as it does in part of 

 basic sciences such as Chemistry, Meteorology, Botany, and Eco- 

 nomics, and in part of practical applications of these sciences as in 

 Field Crops, Horticulture, Dairying, and th« like, overlapping or 

 conflict between these groups of subjects is well-nigh unavoidable. 

 This conflict is intensified as modern scientific methods become more 

 complex and the interrelationships of many lines of inquiry become 

 more apparent. In practice, each section of the Record doubtless 

 contains in nearly every issue articles of direct bearing and imme- 

 diate interest to other sections. Exceptions might be expected of 

 such apparently dissimilar sections as Forestry and Dairying, or 

 Plant Diseases and Rural Engineering, yet studies of the utiliza- 

 tion of the ranges on the National Forests for dairy farming or of 

 the ravages of wood-destroying fungi on timber are examples of 

 double appeal which readily suggest themselves. An economic study 

 of the relative accuracy of forecasts of spring wheat yields from 

 climatological data and crop estimates may be cited as a recent 

 actual instance of the joint interest of economists and meteorologists 

 in an abstract which might easily be overlooked by one group if 

 inserted in the other section. 



Situations such as these might be somewhat alleviated by the 

 introduction of cross-references. This remedy is frequently adopted 

 by abstract journals and has many obvious advantages. In the 

 Record^ however, a serious objection has been that of space limita- 

 tions. Under the laws regulating Government printing, publica- 



