196 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



gators to undertake carefully planned exiaeriments along this line for the 

 purpose of getting comparable data which may form a reliable basis for definite 

 conclusions as to the seed value of light and heavy kernels. 



In addition to the consideration of this particular phase of field-crop work, 

 papers were presented on methods of conducting cooperative experiments with 

 farmers, the keeping of crop records, field and laboratory methods in wheat 

 breeding, the analysis of yield in cereals, a method of preventing cross pollination 

 of corn by means of muslin screens, methods of planting plats with the same 

 ears of corn to secure greater uniformity in yield, and on the error in yields 

 of wheat from plants and single rows in multiple series. A paper and the 

 discussion on technical terms in agi-ouomy led to the appointment of a com- 

 mittee on terminology, consisting of C. R. Ball, C. G. Hopkins, and J. F. Duggar. 

 This committee was instructed to consider the terminology of agronomy, in- 

 cluding the present use and the need for clearer definition of terms, together 

 with the suggestion of suitable new terms, and to make a reiwrt at the next 

 meeting. 



Most of the remaining papers treated of some phase of soil work, such as 

 ammonia formation as a measure of decomposition processes in the soil, soil 

 management, soil granulation, long v. short periods of transpiration in plants 

 as indicators of soil fertility, causes for increased yields of cereals by soil 

 sterilization, and uonavailable moisture, its determination, and its relation 

 to the moisture equivalent. The committee on classification of soils made a 

 report of progress of its work, further report being deferred until the sub- 

 committees, which are considering different viewpoints of soil classification, 

 are ready to present results. 



The committee on publication reported the publication in a cloth-bound 

 volume of 238 pages of 39 of the 69 papers presented at the previous meetings. 

 It was decided to distribute this publication free only to those holding 

 membership for the years covered by the volume, and to leave the matter of 

 price to new members and others in the hands of the committee on publication 

 with power to act. 



A committee on constitution was appointed and the following persons were 

 elected officers of the society for the ensuing year : H. J. Wheeler, presi- 

 dent ; C. A. Zavitz, first vice president ; R. W. Thatcher, second vice president ; 

 C. R. Ball, secretary ; Lyman Carrier, treasurer ; and L. J. Briggs and 

 E. G. Montgomery, program committee. 



Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. — The association held its twenty- 

 seventh annual convention in Washington, D. C, on November 10-12, with an 

 attendance of over 200. 



The president of the association, W. A. Withers, delivered the annual 

 address, entitled The Teaching of Chemistry in American Agricultural Colleges. 

 It dealt primarily with the position occupied in the realm of science by 

 the agricultural chemists of to-day, and was accompanied by a statistical 

 study in regard to chemistry as taught in the agricultural colleges to students 

 taking chemistry with the view to becoming chemists, and to those who intend 

 to specialize in other agricultural lines. Drs. Wiley and Cameron, of this 

 Department, in behalf of the section in agricultural chemistry of the Inter- 

 national Congress of Applied Chemistry, discussed the importance to agricul- 

 tural chemistry of the approaching congress and the need for presenting the 

 results of American research work before it. 



On invitation of the association. Secretary Wilson, of this Department, deliv- 

 ered an address in which special stress was laid upon the function of, and the 

 benefits thus far derived by the people from, the pure food and drug law, and 



