lOi'O] EDITORIAL. 407 



turns issued in editions of over 1,000 copies may not exceed 100 

 pa<j:es. So lon<j;- as the number of issues remains as at present, there- 

 fore, not over 1,800 pa^r^'s per year are avaihible for abstracts, edito- 

 rials, notes, and simihir material. This space was proving barely 

 sufficient for the ade(|uate handling of material prior to the war, 

 and the notable increase in new journals and the steadily growing 

 output of many scientific institutions of late indicate that conges- 

 tion of material is again a probability within a short time. It is 

 believed that a system of cross-references sufficiently comprehensive 

 to be of real value would require considerable space, obtainable only 

 by a curtailment of the number or the fullness of the abstracts 

 themsehes. 



This consideration is the more important since a better guide in 

 most ways to the subjert matter is afforded ultimately by the subject 

 index, which of course disregards sectional lines. Efforts are made 

 to issue this index as promptly as possible after the conclusion of a 

 volume, so that the value of cross-references Avould be largely con- 

 fined to the current issues. Even for these, however, the classified table 

 of contents is perhaps a more reliable, if less convenient, aid than 

 any system of cross-references which may by its seeming complete- 

 ness delude the user into a false sense of security. Many bus}^ readers 

 of the Record^ who are unable to scan each page in detail, find the 

 comparatively few pages of the table of contents of appreciable 

 assistance in indicating articles of interest. 



Certain groups of specialists doubtless find regular perusal of 

 several sections of the Record itself quite desirable. The plant 

 breeder soon learns that in addition to the general articles in Agri- 

 cultural Botany, he may locate some of his most useful material in 

 the studies^with wheat or corn in Field Crops, or with tomatoes or 

 citrus fruits in Horticulture, and that a goodly number of current 

 articles on heredity and biometrics will appear in Animal Produc- 

 tion. The horticulturist and the agronomist will discoA-er that the 

 section of Agricultural Meteorology contains not only general articles 

 and routine meteorological observations, but reports of frost protec- 

 tion Avork and other phenological studies of direct application in 

 their respective lines. The rural economist may find cost studies of 

 wheat, apples, beef, or milk grouped with articles dealing with other 

 phases of their production in Field Crops, Horticulture, Animal 

 Production, or Dairying. The poultry husbandman Avill have re- 

 course to the section of Veterinary Medicine for Avork on poultry 

 diseases and to that on Kural Engineering for poultry buildings and 

 appliances. Perhaps most unexpected of all to many Avill be the 

 revelation that textbooks are assembled irrespective of subject under 

 Agricultural Education. Bacteriological articles are Avidely scat- 

 7622°— 20 2 



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