12 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1175 



4. Varieties of grain best adapted for the lo- 

 cality should always be used. The agricultural 

 colleges and other state agricultural agencies wiU 

 inform the farmers of the existence of these va- 

 rieties and how and where to obtain the seed. 



5. Every means should be employed to eliminate 

 weeds, by use of clean seed, crop rotations, early 

 cultivation above mentioned, and any special 

 methods reliably recommended for particular 

 weeds in different localities. 



6. Seed testing for germination can well be 

 further emphasized at this emergency period. The 

 extension service, through county agents, should 

 bring this matter home to every farm. 



7. Seed treatment will largely prevent certain 

 smuts and other diseases of cereals, and, as a real 

 war measure, we are bound to see that it is applied 

 as nearly as possible on every farm, thus increas- 

 ing our cereal production a himdred million bush- 

 els or more, in one season. By field demonstra- 

 tions the methods can and should be made plain to 

 all concerned. 



8. The possible ravages of Hessian fly, chinch 

 bug, green bug, stored grain and mill products in- 

 sects, etc., must be kept also in mind and the 

 progress of and means of checking these insects 

 be communicated, so far as possible, in advance of 

 their local occurrence 



9. As a means of reducing the great loss from 

 rust, it is urged that aU common barberry bushes 

 (not the Japanese) and grass weeds harboring 

 cereal rusts, be eradicated, and that rust-resistant 

 cereal varieties be grown, if otherwise of good 

 quality. 



10. It is a conservative estimate that 20 million 

 bushels of wheat and proportional quantities of 

 other cereals are annually lost by waste in har- 

 vesting and thrashing. This waste can and 

 and should be, in large measure, easily avoided. 

 A man and team are known to have cleared $27 

 to $62 a day from cleaning up after thrashers, 

 and, in another instance, last year in Kansas, $500 

 was gained by a man, with a team and fanning 

 mOl, cleaning up after thrashing machine set- 

 tings, in three weeks' time. 



11. In the western and southwestern plains, 

 grain sorghums should be widely planted. In the 

 northern plains, in the drier districts, flax and, 

 under certain conditions, proso or Euasian millet, 

 may be used to a similar advantage. 



12. Suitable catch crops (such as cowpeas, soy 

 beans, sorghums, millet, flax and buckwheat) 

 should be grown on all lands on which staple crops 

 can not be seeded at the proper time or on which 

 they have been destroyed. 



13. The increased use of corn, rice, grain, sor- 

 ghums, proso, barley, rye, beans, cottonseed meal 

 and peanut meal as substitutes for, or in conjunc- 

 tion vpith, wheat for human food is strongly recom- 

 mended. Information on this matter can be ob- 

 tained through the state agricultural colleges and 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE ENGINEERING 

 COUNCIL 



On June 27 was held the first meeting of the 

 Engineering CouneiL This body is a depart- 

 ment of the United Engineering Society and 

 has recently come into being as a medium of 

 cooperation between the four national engi- 

 neering societies. The function of the council 

 may perhaps best be described by the following 

 extract from the by-laws of the United Engi- 

 neering Society: 



The council may speak authoritatively for all 

 member societies on all public questions of a com- 

 mon interest or concern to engineers. 



The council is composed of twenty-four 

 members, five being appointed -by each of the 

 four founder societies and four by the United 

 Engineering Society. Its present member- 

 ship follows : 



American Society of Civil Engineers. — J. !P. Stev- 

 ens (Chas. Warren Hunt), George P. Swain, P. 



H. Kewell, Alex. 0. Humphreys, F. D. Galloway. 

 American Institute of Mining Engineers. — -P. N. 



Moore, S. J. Jennings, B. B. Lawrence, J. Parke 



Channing, Edwin Ludlow. 

 American Society of Mechanical Engineers. — ^I. N. 



HoUis, Chas. Whiting Baker, John H. Barr, A. 



M. Greene, Jr., D. S. Jacobus. 

 American Institute of Electrical Engineers. — H. 



W. Buck, E. W. Rice, N. A. Carle, P. Junkers- 



feld, C. E. Skinner. 

 United Engineering Society. — Clemens Herschel, B. 



B. Thayer, I. E. Moultrop, Calvert Townley. 



At the organization meeting held in the 

 rooms of the American Society of Mechanical 

 Engineers at 2.30 o'clock p.m., on the twenty- 

 seventh instant, the following officers were 

 elected : 



President: I. N. Hollis. 



Vice-presidents: H. W. Buck, George E. Swain. 

 Secretary: Calvert Townley. 



Executive Committee: The four ofiiceTS named, 

 with J. Parke Channing and D. S. Jacobus. 



