800 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 779 



spects the seed sold by dealers to detect the 

 seeds of noxious weeds and other foreign mat- 

 ter, conducts corn contests for young people, 

 and cooperates with the farms of state and 

 county institutions in demonstrating to the 

 farmers of the neighborhood the best methods 

 of handling their crops, from seeding to har- 

 vesting. For a state so recently redeemed 

 from forest to agricultural use, the stump 

 removal investigations of the extension de- 

 partment are of importance, as are also the 

 lines of work in cranberry culture for the 

 marsh districts, the extension farmers' courses, 

 held for several days at a time in communi- 

 ties remote from the college, often in connec- 

 tion with homemakers' conferences under the 

 auspices of the home economics department. 



The department of agricultural economies 

 has begun an investigation of the cost of 

 farm products through a system of blanks to 

 be filled out daily by farmers in typical por- 

 tions of the state and tabulated at the close 

 of the year by the department in cooperation 

 with the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 An employment bureau for graduates and 

 former students of the college is also main- 

 tained by the department of agricultural eco- 

 nomics through which farmers, dairymen 

 and stock raisers can secure the services of 

 young men especially trained for the branch 

 of work for which they are desired. 



Plans for the construction of farm build- 

 ings are prepared by the department of agri- 

 cultural engineering, while the soils depart- 

 ment promotes the reclamation of waste 

 swamps through the organization of drainage 

 districts, tests soils to find what form of fer- 

 tilizer they need and advises as to crop-rota- 

 tion to renew exhausted wheat lands. An 

 improvement in the breeds of horses raised in 

 Wisconsin has resulted from the stallion 

 licensing system of the department of horse 

 breeding, as improvement in other kinds of 

 farm stock has come from the work of the" 

 animal husbandry department in forming 

 dairy cattle breeders' associations, sheep and 

 swine breeding societies and live stock judg- 

 ing contests. 



Cooperating with the State Live Stock 



Sanitary Board and the State Veterinarian, 

 the department of agricultural bacteriology 

 investigates outbreaks of animal diseases with 

 a view to control and elimination, as well as 

 the causes of bad water supplies for villages 

 and cities. The post-mortem tuberculosis 

 demonstrations of the department at county 

 and state fairs and other meetings have been 

 a means of education to thousands of people 

 as to the serious nature of the disease and the 

 necessity and means of prevention. 



Improvement in dairying through the dis- 

 tribution of starters for the making of butter 

 and cheese, the testing of milk and cream, 

 and monthly exhibitions at the dairy school 

 where butter and cheese is scored as to its 

 merits and defects has been an accomplished 

 aim of the dairying department of the exten- 

 sion service, while the chemistry department 

 has also assisted in this work through its tests 

 of dairy cows as to production, to help farm- 

 ers to weed out the poor producers. The in- 

 spection of feeds and fertilizers according to 

 recent license laws has protected the farmers 

 from the harmful ingredients often found in 

 such commercial products before the depart- 

 ment undertook the work. These means em- 

 ployed by the Agricultural College are aimed 

 toward reaching the 200,000 farmers of the 

 state with the results of the scientific in- 

 vestigations of the college and experiment 

 station laboratories. 



TEE GEORGE WASBINGTON MEMORIAL 



BUILDING 

 We are requested to print the following let- 

 ter calling the attention of members of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science to the plan for the construction 

 and endowment of a building in Washington 

 to be used as headquarters for our national 

 scientific organizations : 



Washington, D. C, 



June 1, 1909. 

 Dk. L. 0. Howard, 



Permanent Secretary, A. A. A. S. 

 Dear Sir: I take great pleasure in bringing to 

 your attention the project of the " George Wash- 

 y gton Memorial Association " for the erection of 



