22 EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The concluding section of the report of the chemical depart- 

 ment is a paper by E. B. Holland, on a " Standard for Babcock 

 Glassware." This paper presents a summary of the results of 

 the tests of Babcock glassware carried out at the station since 

 the passage of the dairy law in 1901. A standard for such 

 glassware is proposed and carefully drawn, and rules for testing 

 are presented. The standard and rules proposed by Mr. Holland 

 have not yet been officially sanctioned by the American Asso- 

 ciation of Agricultural Chemists, but both have met the ap- 

 proval of Dr. Babcock, and they will probably be adopted. 



Department of Botany and Vegetable Pathology. — The re- 

 port of Dr. Stone, the head of the department of botany and 

 vegetable pathology, contains papers upon a considerable 

 number of important topics. Of especial interest is Dr. 

 Stone's report concerning methods of separating light and 

 inferior seeds and dirt from commercial or home-grown samples 

 of seeds. The apparatus perfected in the department for this 

 work shows much ingenuity in design, and the work is accom- 

 plished with great rapidity and accuracy. The methods used 

 here are especially important for such seeds as tobacco and 

 onions. As a result of the rejection of the inferior seed, a 

 better stand of plants, substantially all of which, coming from 

 sound, heavy seeds, are strong, healthy and disease-resistant, 

 is obtained than is possible when commercial samples are 

 planted. Work of this character is for the present done with- 

 out charofe. There has been a considerable increase in the 

 number of samples sent in to be tested for germination. This 

 work also is done for the present without charge. 



The report calls attention to the unusual extent to which sun 

 scald and sun scorch have prevailed among different varieties 

 of trees. These troubles appear to be due primarily in many 

 cases to the loss of a considerable proportion of the fibrous 

 rootlets, which the botanist believes has been due to the exces- 

 sively cold winters of a few years ago ; and these troubles have 

 shown more largely than usual during the past summer on ac- 

 count of the severe drought which prevailed. The extensive 

 defoliation of many species of trees, notal)ly elms, in the late 

 summer or early fall, is believed to have been the result of the 

 same cause. 



