AGRICirLTURAL SCIENCE AT THE ST, LOUTS MEETING. 543 



Some rmisiial IMant Discasi's in Iowa. Notes wore o•i^■oll on the 

 occurrence and |)rc\alcnce of i'ljli ndvot^poriuin jxid!, soptoria disease 

 of currants and gooseberries, l)lack knot, and the l)acterial carrot dis- 

 ease. The hitter was said to be very prevalent during the season of 

 1903. 



The Water-Sotuble Plant Food of Soils was discussed by H. Snyder. 

 Data were presented showing- the amount of phosphoric acid removed 

 from the soil l)v wheat and several other crops at different stages of 

 growth. In a specific instance the amount of wheat growing on 1 sq. 

 yd. of soil contained 1,106 gm. of dry matter and 10.1(S gm. of phos- 

 phoric acid. It was shown that the amount of water which, according 

 to Hellriegel, would he required to produce this 1,106 gm. of dr}^ 

 matter in wheat, "could dissolve onh' 1.9 gm. of phosphoric acid from 

 the soil upon which the wheat was grown," using the methods for 

 extracting given in Bulletin 22 of the Bureau of Soils, except that the 

 water was left in contact with the soil for 15 days instead of 20 

 minutes. The conclusion was drawn that over 81 per cent of the 

 phosphoric acid of the \vheat crop was secured from forms insoluble 

 in water. It was calculated that the wheat crop mentioned in Bulletin 

 22 would require more water-soluble phosphoric acid than was con- 

 tained in the soil to a depth of 8 ft., and the limit to the capacity of 

 crops for a])sorl)ing water was pointed out. 



J. B. Weems presented a paper on The Relation of Research to Sci- 

 entific Agriculture, referring to the necessary mental and physical 

 equipment of investigators, and discussing the difficulties met with by 

 many. The responsibility of overloading promising investigators with 

 tedious routine work was placed upon those in authority at various 

 institutions, 



C. E. Bessey presented an informal account of agriculture in the 

 Caucasus Mountains. The geography and general topography of the 

 countr}^ were described. The steppes north of the Caucasus are like 

 the Great Plains of America. The chief crops are hay, wheat, and 

 corn. Improved farm machinery are in use and the cattle are of fair 

 conformation. The sheep are of a very dark color. The Caucasus 

 Mountains are occupied by farmers who raise wheat, r3^e, and barley. 

 South of the Caucasus corn is grown extensively, and there are 

 improved races of hogs and horses, and also the big-tailed sheep. 



The Relation of the Date of Digging to the Development of Potato 

 Rot was discussed in a paper by L. R. Jones and W. J. Morse. Dur- 

 ing the reported experiments it was found that sound tubers were not 

 infected during storage. It was determined that there is more loss 

 from rot in early digging than in late digging. 



W. R. Lazenby discussed The Waste Products and the Keeping 

 Quality of Apples. During the speaker's experiment 25 standard 

 varieties of apples were tested to determine the percentage of waste. 



