NOTES. 499 



One session of the convention was devoted mainly to a discussion of modern 

 farm conveniences, another to tractor development, and a third considered 

 fences, problems for agricultural engineering research, and courses in agricul- 

 tural engineering. 



Officers were elected as follows: President, F. M. White of the Wisconsin 

 University and Station ; vice-presidents, Spencer Otis and M. M. Baker of Illi- 

 nois ; and secretary-treasurer, C. G. Shedd of the Iowa College. 



Necrology. — Henry Wallace, widely known as the founder and editor of 

 Wallaces' Fanner, died Februray 22 at Des Moines, Iowa, at the age of 80 

 years. Dr. Wallace was educated for the ministry and served as pastor of sev- 

 eral Iowa churches, retiring in 1877 on account of impaired health. He then 

 took up farming and writing for the rural press, and in 1883 became editor of 

 the loiva Homestead. In 1S95 he founded, with his two sons, Wallaces' Farmer, 

 and continued as its editor until his death, wielding wide influence in this posi- 

 tion. He also served as a member of the Commission on Country Life, ap- 

 pointed by President Roosevelt in 1908, as president of the National Conserva- 

 tion Commission in 1910, and, togetlier with former Secretary of Agriculture 

 James Wilson, made a study in 1913, under an appointment from the Governor 

 of Iowa, of agricultural conditions in Great Britain. 



The death is reported of A. D. Darbishire, demonstrator of zoology and 

 lecturer on genetics in the University of Edinburgh, while serving with the 

 English Army in France. He will be remembered in this country as a lecturer 

 at the last Graduate School of Agriculture, at Columbia, Missouri, July, 1914, 

 his subject being An Attempt to Estimate the Value of the Mendelian Method 

 as an Instrinnent for the Improvement of the Animals and Plants which are 

 Serviceable to Mankind. 



Dr. Paul Sorauer, of the. University of Berlin, well-known for his work on 

 plant diseases, his Eandbuch der Pflanzenkrankheiten, the last edition of 

 which was issued in 1911, and as editor of Zeitschrift filr Pflanzenkrankheiten 

 since its establishment in 1891, died recently, aged 77 years. 



New Journals. — Soil Science, a monthly journal devoted to problems in soil 

 physics, soil chemistry, and soil biology, is being published at Rutgers College 

 with Director J. G. Lipman as editor-in-chief, N. Kopeloff and C. R. Woodward 

 as assistant editors, and the following board of consulting editors : F. J. Alway, 

 C. Barthel, M. W. Beijerinck, A. W. Blair, P. E. Brown, H. R. Christensen, 

 H. J. Conn, H. von Feilitzen, E. B. Fred, R. Greig-Smith, B. L. Hartwell, C. B. 

 Lipman, F. Lohnis, T. L. Lyon, E. A. Mitscherlich, C. A. Mooers, T. Remy, G. 

 Rossi, E. J. Russell, O. Schreiner, A. A. F. de Sigmond, C. E. Thorne, and N. 

 Tulaikoff. The initial number is dedicated to Dr. E. W. Hilgard, and contains 

 a tribute to liis memory, an introductory statement by Director Lipman, and 

 the following original articles: A Detailed Study of Effects of Climate on Im- 

 portant Properties of Soil, by C. B. Lipman and D. D. Waynick ; The Influence 

 of Some Common Humus-forming Materials of Narrow and Wide Nitrogen- 

 carbon Ratio on Bacterial Activities, by P. E. Brown and F. E. Allison ; Carbon 

 and Nitrogen Changes in the Soil Variously Treated — Soil Treated with Lime, 

 Ammonium Sulphate, and Sodium Nitrate, by R. S. Potter and R. S. Snyder; 

 and Effect of Grinding on the Lime Requirement of Soils, by R. C. Cook. It is 

 announced that papers dealing with problems in plant physiology, agronomy, 

 bacteriology, and geologj' are to be accepted only when they contribute directly 

 to a knowledge of soil fertility. 



Genetics, a periodical record of investigations bearing on heredity and vari- 

 ation, is being published bimonthly by an editorial board consisting of Drs. 

 W. E. Castle, E. G. Conklin, C. B. Davenport, B. M. Davis, E. M. East, R. A. 



