THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 29 



dividuals in 157 sections of the United States, the subdivision 

 being based primarily upon the racial constitution of the popu- 

 lation. 



In the broad field of agriculture, botany, forestry, zoology, 

 and fisheries, numerous investigators and research agencies, 

 brought into cooperation by this Research Council Division, 

 organized much work of importance. Some of this was of an 

 emergency nature, but in most cases the studies undertaken are 

 no less applicable to the needs of peace than to those of war. 

 The indication of sources of material for making the special 

 charcoal required for gas-masks, and the presentation of evi-^ 

 dence that certain native woods are better suited than African 

 mahogany for airplane propellers, thus saving thousands of 

 tons of shipping, are typical war activities, though both are 

 not without application under post-war conditions. The ex- 

 termination of rodent pests, undertaken in cooperation with 

 the United States Biological Survey, was of special importance 

 during the period of the war. The presence or absence in 

 poultry food of certain substances influencing egg production 

 was the subject of an extensive investigation, in which poultry- 

 men both East and West took part. A group of soil and fer- 

 tilizer specialists from North and South Dakota, Minnesota, 

 Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri was organ- 

 ized for the study of fertilizer problems of that large agricul- 

 tural region, and the special cooperation of the Department of 

 Agriculture was secured for a further investigation of the 

 questions involved. The protein element in animal feeding and 

 the physiological salt requirements of representative cultivated 

 plants were the subjects of two other cooperative researches, 

 involving the joint efforts of many investigators and labora- 

 tories. Other researches, too numerous to be mentioned here, 

 also stand to the credit of the Division. 



An outstanding fact in this work of the National Research 

 Council is the splendid spirit of cooperation shown by those 

 who took part in it. Personal rivalries were thrown aside, 

 ideas and information were freely exchanged, and the one con- 



