222 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLV. No. 1157 



orienting. The unfertilized ova become milky 

 and opaque within twenty-four hours. 



Stripping these fish is not entirely success- 

 ful, as the eggs are so sticky that they clump 

 together and adhere to the fingers of the 

 operator or to anything else they may touch. 

 Moreover, it is difficult to obtain sufficient 

 sperm for a large number of eggs by stripping 

 the male. It is perfectly possible, however, to 

 obtain a few eggs from the female in this way 

 and enough sperm to enable the process of 

 fertilization to be studied under the micro- 

 scope. Attempts to strip should only be made 

 on those fish which are actually beginning to 

 spawn, when the eggs will flow freely. At this 

 time there is little danger of injuring the fe- 

 male. It is usually possible to determine at 

 least twenty-four hours before the act begins 

 which female is ready to spawn, as the males 

 will follow or chase her about the tank. 



The eggs take from two days to a week or 

 more to hatch, depending on the temperature. 

 The ova are perfectly transparent and the de- 

 veloping embryo is easily visible under the 

 binocular. 



Further directions for breeding that may be 

 desired can be found in the books of Smith^ 

 and Wolf.^ Egbert T. Hance 



Universitt op Pennsylvania 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR 

 THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



SECTION M— AGRICULTURE 

 On account of the unusual number of bodies 

 meeting at New York during convocation week 

 whose field borders on agriculture, the Section of 

 Agriculture held only a single session. This oc- 

 curred Wednesday afternoon, December 27, 1916, 

 in Brinckerhoff Theater, Barnard College, Colum- 

 bia University, and was presided over by Dr. W. 

 H. Jordan, of the New York Experiment Station. 

 In the absence of the retiring vice-president, Dean 

 E. Davenport, of Illinois, who was unable to reach 

 the meeting on account of delayed train service, 

 it was necessary to dispense with the vice-presiden- 



1 Smith, Hugh M., 1909, "Japanese Goldfish," 

 W. F. Roberts Company, Washington. 



2 Wolf, Herman T., 1908, ' ' Goldfish Breeds and 

 Other Aquarium Pish," Innea and Sons, Philadel- 

 phia. 



tial address. This address was entitled "The Out- 

 look for Agricultural Science" and has been pub- 

 lished in this journal.i 



The feature of the session was a symposium on 

 "The Adjustment of Science to Practise in Agri- 

 culture," participated in by Dr. H. J. Wheeler, of 

 Boston, Dr. J. G. Lipman, director of the New 

 Jersey Experiment Stations, Dr. G. E. Warren, of 

 the College of Agriculture at Cornell University, 

 and Director B. Youngblood, of the Texas Experi- 

 ment Station. Approaching the subject from 

 different angles, the speakers brought out the many 

 important considerations which affect the adjust- 

 ment and determine the extent of the application 

 of the teachings of science in agricultural practise. 



Discussing ' ' Some Factors lying between Scien- 

 tific Results and the Farm," Dr. Wheeler laid 

 down the proposition that true science is always 

 in accord with the best practise; there is no antag- 

 onism between science and good practise, although 

 political, economic and other factors may inter- 

 vene to modify the extent to which the findings of 

 science are profitable or directly applicable. The 

 prosperity of the farmer is a prime requisite to the 

 application of science in his business. The element 

 of risk is unusually large in farming, and uncer- 

 tainty as to the character of the season and the 

 price of his products often makes the farmer of 

 limited means hesitate to introduce changes sug- 

 gested by science. A favorable tariff has in some 

 countries been a large factor in creating conditions 

 under which science can be profitably applied, to- 

 gether with a larger element of stability of the 

 industry. 



It was held that agriculture must be stimulated 

 by political action; if the industry is depressed so 

 that the farmers are not making money, science can 

 not lend an effective helping hand to the art. The 

 encouragement of private ownership of land, the 

 adjustment of the farm to the farmer's capacity, 

 and adjustment of the farming system so as to 

 distribute and give employment to the labor 

 throughout the year, are all important as determin- 

 ing factors lying between knowledge and its utili- 

 zation on the farm. The condition of the land as, 

 for example, the need of drainage, may be another 

 factor in realizing advantages from the applicatibn 

 of scientific principles. Illustrations were drawn 

 from German agriculture to show how favorable 

 conditions have been a means of developing agri- 

 culture and of putting into practise the teachings 

 of the experiment stations and other educational 

 agencies. As an example, the use of fertilizers was 



1 Science, N. S., Vol. XLV., p. 149. 



