2 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



itself to the special problems of the region without in any way dupli- 

 cating or detracting from the efforts of the national Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. The next 

 meeting is to be held at New Orleans in January, 1917. The presi- 

 dent for the coming year is Dr. W. M. Riggs. of South Carolina, 

 and the secretary, Prof. D. T. Gray, of the North Carolina Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



The keynote of the convention was the more effective coordination 

 of experiment station work, a subject which, although considered in 

 its local application, is of much broader interes-t. It was a feature 

 of the address of the president, Prof. B. W. Kilgore, was the subject 

 of a paper by the Chief of this Office and of a report by a special 

 committee, and was discussed at consideral)le length. In the end it 

 was endorsed l)y the association as one of its special aims, and two 

 committees were appointed to promote the plan and report at the 

 next convention. 



In his presidential address Professor Kilgore made a strong plea 

 for a larger measure of cooperation among station workers — a com- 

 ing together in an effort to bring about a greater degree of uniformity 

 in the ph\nning and conihut of their work. This was deemed espe- 

 cially important in the case of groups of States having similar agri- 

 cultural conditions. "Individual effort and individual loadersliip 

 are not to be discouraged or discounted,"' he said, " but unity of plans 

 or efforts are not to be ignored if we are to accomplish our task in 

 the best way." He explained that heretofore practically all of the 

 work in agrononi}', for example, has been planned and conducted 

 independently and with special reference to the State in which it 

 was carried on, although the results are capable of and are often 

 given a wider application. "Thei'e has been much duplication of 

 work in this way, and in addition there has been so little uniformity 

 in the plans and methods that the residts have not been comparable, 

 so that we might have the benefit of bringing the experience of all to 

 bear upon the particular problems under investigation.'' 



Continuing to use the subject of agronomy to illus-trate his idea. 

 Professor Kilgore said: ''Our crops, soils, and climate are near 

 enough alike for us to make a serious effort to get our workers in 

 agronomy together, with a view of working out uniform plans and 

 methods for the conduct of the work, so that their results when 

 obtained may be comparable and so that unnecessary duplication 

 may l>e prevented. This would not necessarily interfere with indi- 

 vidual effort, but might be so worked out that men and institiition? 

 especially qualified and equipped for jiarticular lines of work might 

 devote themselves especially to these things, leaving other things 



