10 Station Bulletin 372 



matic temperature recording machines keep records all night in an orchard 

 and in specific places such as under the bark of a tree, in the ground, or on 

 the side of the tree away from the sun. Our card-sorting machines (after 

 data have been placed on pieces of cardboard, about the size of a postal card) 

 sort cards in deference to any one heading and at the same time add these 

 and other figures by columns. One of these machines has been in use at the 

 New Hampshire Agricultural Station for several years. The second we have 

 hired and used in Boston. 



There are suggestions that the atomic bomb can be related to commer- 

 cial enterprises. This Station has been experimenting with a phase of atomic 

 bomb development as it relates to agriculture. For instance, it is a part of 

 the bomb construction process to have so-called "activated elements". Phos- 

 phorus, which is a plant food, can be treated so that it is activated. We might 

 apply this activated phosphorus to the ground and, later, with the aid of a 

 Geiger-counter, determine whether or not that particular phosphorus has gone 

 to the stems, leaves, or other parts of a growing plant. 



We have a photo-electric spectrometer which can analyze solutions in- 

 stead of making use of .a long manual process of chemical analysis. With 

 this instrument, it is possible to do in three seconds what with ordinary 

 chemical methods would take a well-trained person three weeks to accomplish. 

 Perhaps these examples will serve to make obvious the fact that experimental 

 work cannot be carried on today without up-to-date equipment. Further- 

 more, we must realize that this equipment is not only very expensive but also 

 has increased greatly in cost since the war. 



What I am saying is that the American people did not refute the Malthu- 

 sian doctrine by throwing the land in the mid-west into the production of 

 human foods. That production in itself was significant; but it would have 

 been but a drop in the bucket toward finally satisfying the stomachs of our 

 present 2,000,000,000 people in the world, if we had not added to that re- 

 markable progress in producing more and better crops per acre. We have 

 also made progress in producing more of the crops best adapted for food 

 for both domestic animals and for man. Even yet we have just scratched the 

 surface in our investigations of these newer problems. For example, we 

 have only recently heard about vitamins and their relation to human wel- . 

 fare. We still know too little about them. So long as a pound of butter may 

 have anywhere from five units to five thousand units of a certain vitamin, 

 there is no very scientific way of measuring how much butter a person should 

 eat in order to get a suitable daily ration. Today, those of us who are study- 

 ing feeds and feeding sciences for the best production among farm animals 

 may not realize how very little is really known about the proteins required 

 for adequate maintenance. It is not only quite possible, but also quite prob- 

 able, that we feed entirely too much protein. There is also the question of 

 substituting more, or all, of the cheaper vegetable proteins for animal pro- 

 teins. The difference here, according to indications from recent research 

 work, might conceivably be one of vitamins, which might be provided in 

 other and more efficient and economical ways. It might be disconcerting to 

 the Malthusian doctrine to contemplate the fact that a very high protein feed 

 can be synthesized from wood-waste, (specifically sawdust piles). We have 

 already fed such a protein product experimentally with good results at the 



