18 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Michigan in 1885, receiving therefrom the degree of A. M., his thesis 

 being the modification of plants by climate. This paper showed wonderful 

 familiarity with the literature, and a broad conception of the subject. His 

 interest in this line of work continued throughout his life, and he left many 

 unpublished notes which were turned over to the writer. He was a prolific 

 writer, and published much that is of a high grade. In addition to the 

 work of acclimitization he was much interested along the line of cross ferti- 

 lization of plants, especially the secondary effects, and much of this kind of 

 work was done with corn. 



Several papers on this subject were published by him. He outlined 

 some of this work for the division of botany more than ten years ago. Ttie 

 U. S. department of agriculture, within the last few years, is taking up 

 this line of investiga' ion which he regarded so important. His paper on mil- 

 lets is frequently quoted in scientific and agricultural papers. This work was 

 started while in Iowa, and continued in Michigan, and the results of exper- 

 iments were finally published as a bulletin by the Michigan Agricultural 

 Experiment station. He was much interested in the weeds of agriculture, 

 and during his connection with the U. S. department of agriculture pre- 

 pared several papers on the subject. He gave special attention to grasses, 

 and many of his specimens are preserved in the herbarium of the Iowa 

 State college. A collection of grasses was made for the Paris exposition. 

 Other papers of his were on "Crimson Clover," and " Influence of Scion on 

 Stock." He published two books along economic lines " The Cauliflower," 

 and "Popular Errors of Plants." He also published a " Dictionary of 

 Botanical Terms," and was editor of pomological terms for the Standard 

 dictionary. All of his works show his unmistakable bent along the lines of 

 economic botany. In all of his papers scientific methods are shown. In 

 careful collecting of literature, and the weighing of evidence pro and con, 

 Mr, Crozier has shown that the socalled agricultural and horticultural 

 topics can be treated from a scientific standpoint without losing their value 

 for the practical farmer and horticulturist. 



ROBERT COMBS, B, S., M. S, 



BY L. H. PAMMEL. 



Robert Combs, who was a member of this Academy since 1894, died in 

 Phoenix, Ariz., on the 11th of April, 1899, from tuberculosis. He was born 

 in Lyon county, Kan., on the 12th day of February, 1872, At the age of 4 

 years he moved with his parents to Cambridge, Cowley county, of the same 

 state. At an early age he showed tastes for natural history and his parents 

 gave him every opportunity to acquire knowledge. His early instruction 

 was obtained in the public schools of Cambridge, and from a private tutor 

 who gave him instruction in algebra and geometry. In 1892 he graduated 

 from the course in pharmacy of Kansas State university and soon found 

 employment during the sugar season as chemist for a large sugar company 

 at McCall and Burnside, La. In February, 1894, he entered Iowa State col- 



