January 30, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



113 



been chosen to keep in toucli with the affairs 

 of the institute and to cooperate with the fac- 

 ulty and officers of administration. 



At the University of California Dr. John C. 

 Merriam, professor of paleontology and his- 

 torical geology, has been appointed dean of 

 the faiculties, and Dr. A. C. Leuschner, pro- 

 fessor of astronomy and director of the Stu- 

 dents' Observatory, dean of the Graduate Di- 

 vision. 



Dr. John M. T. Finney, associate professor 

 of surgery in the Johns Hopkins Medical 

 School, has been invited to accept the chair of 

 surgery art; Harvard University, his alm:a mater. 



Dr. Homer L. Dodge, formerly assistant 

 professor of physics at the State University 

 of Iowa, is now professor and head of the de- 

 partment of phyisios at the University of 

 Oklahoma, Normani Okla. He has also been 

 appoirrted director of the State Bureau of 

 Standards. 



Miss Catherine Beekley has been appointed 

 as instructor of zoology at the University of 

 Oregon to temporarily fill 1he place left by Dr. 

 C. H. Edmondson, who has resigned to take 

 up work in the University of Hawaii. 



Dr. Egger C. Smith, of the United States 

 Bureau of Entomology, has resigned to accept 

 the ixjsition of assistant professor of entomol- 

 ogy in the Kansas State Agricultural College. 



Dr. W. H. Brown, formerly associate pro- 

 fessor of botany in the University of the Phil- 

 ippines, has 'been promoted to the full pro- 

 fessorship and chief of the department, Mr. 

 Elmer D. Merrill having resigned to utilize 

 his whole time in the interests of the Bureau 

 of Science. 



Mr. Harold Boyd Sifton, of the Seed Lab- 

 oratory of the Department of Agriculture, 

 Ottawa, has resigned to accept a position in 

 the botanical laboratories of the University of 

 Toronto. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



OFFICIAL FIELD CROP INSPECTION 



In a recent number of Science Professor H. 

 L. Bolley, in an article on this subject, has 



pointed out that until we have control of seed 

 grain production we will continue to have 

 mixed varieties and the best ones will continue 

 to be lost through carelessness. Bad weeds 

 and diseases will be spread with the seeds. 



He states that "the work of each cereal crop 

 improver and public educator on breeding dies 

 with him," and mentions Wellman, Haynes 

 and Saunders as examples. "Seed improve- 

 ment must last through the life of many men 

 and for this there must be plans based on es- 

 tablished law." 



I am glad to state that crop improvement 

 associations are springing up in many states. 

 Michigan and Wisconsin have each had an. 

 association for about ten years. During the 

 summer (1919) there was a meeting of crop 

 improvement association men at St. Paul, 

 Minn. The states of Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 

 Kansas had representatives at the meeting, 

 showing that those states were active. Be- 

 sides this we know that Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 

 Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado are thinking 

 strongly of organizing crop improvement asso- 

 ciations. 



Professor Bolley, it seems, does not believe 

 in " cooperative breeders associations." A 

 state-controlled seed inspection under the 

 direction of the agricultural college such as 

 Professor Bolley advocates, will in most cases 

 be preceded by a cooperative seed growers 

 association. It is possible that the North 

 Dakota work is not done by an association, 

 as the North Dakota representatives at the 

 St. Paul meeting were interested in alfalfa 

 seed only, and the pedigreed seed was all sent 

 to Fargo for recleaning. This can't be done 

 when a state is to be supplied with pedigreed 

 seed. 



Wisconsin was the first to organize one of 

 these associations, and now they have state aid. 

 Most of us have not reached the stage where 

 the lawmakers have recognized the value of a 

 supply of pure seed, representing the highest 

 yielding pedigreed varieties. Each of the crop 

 improvement associations is fostered by the 

 agricultural college of its state but can not be 



