54 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1177 



to the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture that it, in association with proper 

 state authorities, immediately put on an 

 extended wheat crop survey, (1) to insure 

 a proper harvesting and selecting of the 

 fields from which seed is to be saved for the 

 crop of 1918, so that selection may be made 

 on the basis of freedom from disease and 

 purity as to variety; and (2) to save the 

 seed so it shall be as free as possible from 

 water effects following the period of ma- 

 turity; for it is through moisture that the 

 invasion of the seed coats becomes most ac- 

 tive. This invasion prevents ordinary seed 

 disinfection from being effective. 



"With this seed survey a soil survey should 

 go hand in hand as follows: (1) Map and 

 locate the virgin lands of the wheat states ; 

 (2) map those lands which have had crops 

 on them for the last five to seven years 

 which are of such nature as not to bear the 

 chief diseases of the wheat crop, and (3) 

 set aside these virgin or clean lands and 

 prepare them for the wheat crop of 1918 

 and 1919. 



As a coroUarj' to the seed and soil sur- 

 veys, the United States Department of 

 Agriculture should commandeer and con- 

 tract for sufficient of the wheat coming 

 from the virgin lands or from the field crop 

 inspected areas of the older regions which 

 are found to be free from disease, to redis- 

 tribute to the lands which by the survey 

 have been found to be essentially free from 

 the chief diseases of wheat. Finally, there 

 should be put on a campaign of education 

 which shall reach every grower of wheat 

 in the United States. 



If this national survey of soil and of seed 

 production is to be done so as to be effective 

 on the crop of 1918, the work should start 

 before the harvest of 1917, and be so con- 

 tinuously followed up that the plowing may 

 be done for next year and the ground pre- 

 pared for early seeding. Somewhat over 

 one half of all the land of North Dakota 



has still been untouched by the plow, or at 

 least has not been subject to wheat culture. 

 A similar condition exists in most of the 

 spring wheat-producing states. A proper 

 seed bed for the production of wheat can 

 be made upon this new land if it is broken 

 early in the present summer; and, if it is 

 plowed during any portion of this summer, 

 it can be packed and worked down in fine 

 shape for some crop which is suitable to 

 precede wheat, so that in 1919 the wheat 

 can go into this land without further plow- 

 ing in the finest possible condition. 



To summarize : How shall we improve the 

 bushelage and quality of wheat produced 

 in 1918 and 1919 1 (1) Put on a field crop 

 survey which will locate seed of highest 

 weight and color quality free from disease 

 infection and weather effects; (2) locate 

 the soils upon which such seed should be 

 seeded; (3) take the proper steps to pro- 

 cure that seed and see that it is sowed. 

 Should the government find it necessary to 

 force a proper consideration of the lands 

 upon which wheat is to be sowed and the 

 use of the proper quality of seed, properly 

 disinfected, it would, in my belief, even- 

 tually receive the entire sanction of the 

 American farming and business public and 

 we would learn within two or three years 

 the enormous value which would accrue 

 from proper soil and seed sanitation in the 

 cropping cereals. H. L. Bollet 



North Dakota Ageicdlttjral College, 

 May 30, 1917 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH 

 IN CHINA' 



Considerable attention is now being devoted 

 in China to agricultural education and ex- 

 perimentation in various classes of institu- 

 tions. An experiment station was located at 

 Peking in 1907 under the control of the board 

 of agriculture, industry and commerce. An 

 experimental tract of nearly 300 acres is avail- 



1 From the Experiment Station Becord. 



