500 EXPERIMENT STATIOTST RE(^ORD. 



attendance about 200 delegates, including several representatives of this Department. 

 Ehvood Mead, expert in charge of irrigation investigations of this Department, pre- 

 sided and delivered the presidential address. In this he briefly reviewed the origin 

 and the history of the Irrigation Congress, and discussed the relation of the great 

 irrigation problems to the States and to the nation. He advocated the union of land 

 and water under one control, and he pointed out that many of the great irrigation 

 questions were not sol«ly State questions ))ut that "there are certain matters which 

 only the nation can deal with." The settlement and development of the irrigated 

 region "requires new laws for tlu- distribution of the irrigable lands to the people" 

 and laws for the division of the waters of rivers between the States. "The work 

 wliich lies before us is beyond the means of local effort or individual enterprise. 

 The adjustment of the diverse and conflicting interests of individuals, comnuniities, 

 and different States requires not only wise national laws, l)ut administrative ability 

 of high order in their execution. The framing of these laws is a task which ought 

 not much longer to be deferred." 



Special prominence was given in the session to the question of the storage of 

 water. Resolutions were adopted urging upon Congress that "national appropria- 

 tions commensurate with the magnitude of the problem should be made for the 

 preservation of the forests and the reforestation of denuded areas as natural storage 

 reservoir.?, and for the construction by the National Government, as part of its 

 policy of internal improvement, of storage reservoirs and other works for flood pro- 

 tection, and to save for u.se in- aid of navigation and irrigation the waters which now 

 run to waste, and for the development of artesian and subterranean sources of water 

 supply. The waters of all streams should forever remain subject to public control, 

 and the right of the use of water for irrigation should inhere in the land irrigated, 

 and beneficial use be the basis of measure and the limit of the right." The work of 

 the various branches of the National Government in the investigation of problems 

 relating to irrigation was commended, and the necessity of providing liberal approi 

 priations for this imjiortant work was emphasized. The officers chosen for the 

 ensuing year are as follows: Thomas F. Walsh, Washington, D. C, president; J. B. 

 Prince, New Mexico, first vice-president; F. B. Thurber, New York, second vice- 

 president; H. B. Maxon, secretary. 



Miscellaneous. — There has been begun by Dr. Alexander Ramsey a bibliography, 

 guide, and index to the l)acteria. It is published in The Scientific Roll and Maga- 

 zine of Systematized Xoles, the first number of which appeared in October, 1900. The 

 conductor of the magazine requests all authors on bacteriological subjects to com- 

 municate with him in care of R. L. Sharland, publisher, 38 Churchfield Road, Acton, 

 London, W., England. 



E. Rathay, professor and director of the Qinological and Pomological Station of 

 Klosterneuburg, Austria-Hungary, died September 9, 1900, in his fifty-sixth year. 



Prof. A. B. Frank, professor of botany in the Agricultural High School at Berlin 

 and director of the T)iological division of the imperial })oard of health, died recently 

 at the age of (31 years. 



Thomas A. Williams, assistant chief of the Division of Agrostology of this Depart- 

 ment, died suddenly at his home Deceml)er 23, 1900, of heart trouble. Professor 

 Williams had been connected with the Division of Agrostology since 1896, and through 

 his ability and industry had risen to an important place in its activities. He was 

 widely known among Ijotanists and station workers, by whom he was regarded as 

 an efficient and untiring worker in his chosen field, and was highly esteemed. 



W. P. Cutter, for several years past Librarian of this Department, has resigned 

 to accept a position in the Congressional Library. He has been succeeded by Miss 

 Josephine A. Clark, formerly assistant Librarian. 







