February, '21] mc clung: national research council 35 



We have a Committee representing the Horticultural Society, which 

 I should think could in many cases be put directly into relation with the 

 work of the entomologists. This Committee recently had a meeting 

 in Washington and has undertaken to determine the presence and extent 

 of various kinds of frviit plants in the country in order that they may be 

 preserved and brought together for better service. 



The Committee on Ph^'topathology has already been brought into 

 relation with the work of this association and the Crop Protection 

 Institute. There may be other connections which you could set up. 

 If, so, the agencies are already provided. 



We have under way the organization of an institute for tropical 

 American research, and recently in Washington we had reports from the 

 men in the Philippines who have been responsible for the excellent 

 development of scientific work there. Some of our own fellow -scientists 

 have spent as many as eighteen years in the Philippines developing a 

 group of institutions which stand out most prominently as an achieve- 

 ment of American science. 



It is pointed out to us that this country of all large countries has the 

 least knowledge and least connection with the tropics and that in the 

 future the food supplies and the raw products in particular must in a 

 largely increasing degree come from the tropics. 



It was mentioned, for instance, that in this country we use, as I recall 

 it, over eighty per cent, of the rubber of the world, whereas Great Britain 

 controls ninety per cent, of the source. As you have read in the news- 

 papers, we cannot lay cables because Great Britain has control — entire 

 control — of gutta-percha, and it leads to an international complication 

 simply because this raw product is unavailable to us. Many such in- 

 stances were pointed out. 



We called a meeting of representatives of the large universities, 

 musetuns, and societies in Washington, to consider the organization of 

 an institute for tropical American research. This is being put actively 

 under way. There is a Committee at work on the organization of this 

 institute, and we have assurance from the Pan-American Union and the 

 State Department that the efforts will be encouraged in every way. 

 It is certainly true, I should think, that the entomologists would be 

 greatly interested in the organization of such an institute as the tropical 

 American research institute. 



We have a Committee on Food and Nutrition, whose work in the 

 ]jreservation of foods particularly comes into close connection with the 

 • ■ntomologists. 



There are many of these things; I have spoken merely of a few in the 

 Division of Biology and Agriculture. I have done this merely to direct 



