798 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 180. 



the year's revenue, besides providing a large 

 contribution to the Prince of Wales's Hospital 

 Fund. The balance sheet presented by the 

 auditors showed a debit balance of £365. Lord 

 Herschell gave an interesting account of the 

 important work which is now being carried out 

 in the Intelligence and Scientific and Technical 

 Departments, and brought before the meeting 

 a number of weighty illustrations of the high 

 appreciation of this work by mercantile houses, 

 manufacturers and colonial authorities. He 

 emphasized the fact that this work was in great 

 part accomplished through the agency of Fel- 

 lows' subscriptions, and urged that Fellows of 

 the Institute should demonstrate their sympa- 

 thy with the work by endeavoring to obtain 

 additions to their number. The subject of the 

 criticisms published on the engagement of for- 

 eign bands was also dealt with by him, and he 

 concluded an eloquent address by a reference 

 to the fact, now much lost sight of, that the Im- 

 perial Institute was founded, erected and estab- 

 lished as a monument commemorative of the 

 Queen's Jubilee of 1887. 



TESTS OF SEEDS BY THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF 

 AGRICULTUEB. 



The Department of Agriculture has issued 

 a circular which gives a table fixing the stand- 

 ard for purity (freedom from weed seeds) and 

 germination of high-grade seeds and the limit 

 below which seeds are unfit for sale. The cir- 

 cular further says : 



The Act of Congress making appropriations 

 for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1899, under the heading 

 'Botanical Investigations and Experiments, Di- 

 vision of Botany,' contains the following clause : 



The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby au- 

 thorized to purchase samples of seeds in open 

 market, test the same, and when found not up to 

 standard he may, at his discretion, publish the 

 results of these tests, together with the names 

 of the seedmen by whom the seeds were sold. 



The purchase of seeds for the tests authorized 

 under this act will begin July 1, 1898. 



The seed must be true to name, and practi- 

 cally free from smut, bunt, ergot, insects or 

 their eggs or larvae, and the seeds of dodder, 

 wild mustard, wild flax, Russian thistle, Can- 



ada thistle (Carduus arvensis), cockle, chess 

 {Bromus secalinus), quack grass, penny cress, 

 wild oak and the bulblets of wild onion. It 

 must not contain more than one per cent, of 

 other weed seeds. 



It will be the aim of the Department of Agri- 

 culture in carrying out this law to put a stojj to 

 the sale of seed so poor as to make probable a 

 positive injury and loss to the purchaser, thus 

 giving protection on the one hand to the farmer 

 and gardener and on the other hand to the hon- 

 orable seedsman and seed dealer. 



The purchase and testing of the seeds will be 

 carried on under the supervision of the Botanist 

 of the Department, Frederick V. Coville, and 

 in the immediate charge of Gilbert H. Hicks, 

 Assistant. 



Seeds showing a test as high as these stand- 

 ards are considered of high grade. Seeds fall- 

 ing five points below the standard in purity, 

 or containing an appreciable amount of the pro- 

 hibited seeds or more than one per cent, of 

 other weed seeds, or falling twenty points be- 

 low the maximum percentage in germination 

 are, in general, considered unfit for sale as first 

 class seed, and if sold as such the results of the 

 tests are liaule to publication. Furthermore, if 

 seeds sold as of lower grade are found to con- 

 tain a large amount of weed seeds or show a 

 very low germination, so as to render them 

 practically valueless or seriously injurious, the 

 results of these tests also are liable to publica- 

 tion. It is recognized, however, that in certain 

 cases, as in highly bred varieties or growth and 

 harvest under unfavorable seasonal conditions, 

 seeds may show a germination lower than the 

 normal, and due allowance will be made. 



GENERAL. 



The Committee on Education of the Massa- 

 chusetts House of Representatives has reported 

 a bill appropriating $2,500 in aid of the Boston 

 meeting of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



Mr. Gifford Pinchot has been appointed 

 Chief of the Division of Forestry, Department 

 of Agriculture, to fill the vacancy caused by the 

 resignation of Mr. B. E. Fernow to accept the 

 Directorship of the New York State College of 

 Forestry. Cornell University. 



