SCIENCE 



'Xl^/'o/.-a/ 



Friday, July 20, 1917 



CONTENTS 

 The Next Step in Improvement in Wheat 

 Cropping : Professor H. L. Bolley 49 



Scientific Events: — 

 Agricultural Education and Eesearah in 

 China; The British Meteorological Com- 

 mittee; The Wisconsiti Pharmaceutical Ex- 

 periment Station 54 



Scientific Notes and News 56 



University and Educational News 60 



Discussion and Correspondence: — 



The Use of Prehistoric Canadian Art for 

 Commercial Design: Harlan I. Smith. 

 Methods and Materials for the Preparation 

 of Wall Charts: Dr. K. M. Strong. The Ele- 

 mentary Treatment of Force: Dr. Paul 

 E. Klopsteg 60 



Boyal Society Fellowships 65 



Notes on Canadian Stratigraphy and Paleon- 

 tology : KiKTLEY P. Mather 66 



Special Articles: — 

 The Vitality of Cysts of the Protozoon, 

 Didinium nastutum: Peopessor S. O. 

 Mast 70 



Societies and Academies: — 



The Botanical Society of Washington: Dr. 



H. L. Shaxtz 72 



MSS. Intended for publication and boots, etc.. Intended for 

 rCTlew sh«uld be sent to Professor J. McKeen Csttell, Garrison- 

 On-IIudson, N. Y. 



THE NEXT STEP IN IMPROVEMENT IN 

 WHEAT CROPPING— HOW TO IN- 

 CREASE WHEAT PRODUC- 

 TION IN 1918 AND 19191 

 Your secretary has requested me to pre- 

 pare a paper on soil organisms affecting 

 cereal production. The subjects which 

 should come before you at this time are 

 without question of the greatest impor- 

 tance to this nation and particularly to the 

 cereal-producing states, and, of these, none 

 are of greater import than those which 

 touch upon the causes of seed and crop de- ■ 

 terioration in cereals, under the general 

 cropping and marketing processes now in 

 use. In the case of wheat on the general 

 market it may be truthfully described as 

 yearly more closely approaching the "no 

 grade" condition because of mixtures of 

 kinds and qualities through the jumbling 

 methods of the handling processes. In the 

 case of the seed used on the land in such 

 general cropped regions, the start or first 

 crops produced are always at "No. 1 qual- 

 ity." The finish is always reached after a 

 gradual yearly reduction in purity, vital- 

 ity and weight quality, until crop failure 

 ushers in seed importation, and then, final 

 failure of the cereals as the chief crops. 

 Are these consequences a matter of neces- 

 sity? 



I am well aware that agriculturists, fer- 

 tilizer experts, agronomists, and perhaps 

 some plant pathologists, do not agree with 

 me in assigning as great importance to the 

 role of plant diseases and to soil and seed 

 sanitation in cereal cropping as I do. 

 However, stock raising, gardening and 



1 Head before the third Interstate Cereal Confer- 

 ence. 



