12 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 992 



orary president — for whom all of us have 

 a warm place in our hearts. 



The Food and Drugs Act has resulted in 

 a material clearing of the atmosphere, with 

 respect to the naming, labeling and adul- 

 teration of foods, drugs and feeds. We 

 now have very clearly defined the objects 

 of such a law. These are, first, to prevent 

 the sale of any unwholesome or deleterious 

 substance, and second, to ensure that the 

 goods delivered to the purchaser shall be 

 exactly as represented. These principles 

 have been made clear, not only with re- 

 spect to foods and drugs, but also with re- 

 spect to feeds, and feed manufacturers are 

 beginning to realize that a mixture of bran 

 and screenings may no longer be sold as 

 bran, or a mixture of corn bran and corn 

 chops, sold as corn chops. There are some 

 feed manufacturers who have not yet read 

 aright the signs of the times, as, for ex- 

 ample, some of the manufacturers of cot- 

 tonseed meal, who contend for the author- 

 ity to sell a mixture of meal and hulls 

 under the name of cottonseed meal, but 

 undoubtedly the time will come when this 

 matter will be made clear. 



This association has played an impor- 

 tant part with respect to food adulteration. 

 Before 1900, there was one referee and one 

 associate on this subject. At the 1900 

 meeting, provision was made for 14 as- 

 sociate referees, and there are now 21 

 associate referees. In addition, we have 

 our committee on food standards, which has 

 done valuable work. 



In the matter of cattle feeds, their analy- 

 sis and adulteration, it appears this as- 

 sociation has done little in recent years. 

 The analysis and control of these feeds are 

 yearly assuming a greater importance. 

 There should be a referee and an associ- 

 ate referee on the adulteration of feeds 

 and methods for their detection. We have 

 no official methods on this phase of the 



subject, beyond the ordinary analysis. The 

 method for crude fiber should be thor- 

 oughly studied, and perhaps modified. 

 The clause which permits filtration through 

 cloth should be eliminated. The estima- 

 tion of crude fiber is becoming more and 

 more important, for by its use we can de- 

 tect more easily the addition of materials 

 rich in crude fiber, to concentrated feeds. 

 The estimation of crude fiber, for example, 

 shows much more clearly the probable 

 quantity of cottonseed hulls in cottonseed 

 meal, or rice hulls in rice bran, than does 

 any estimation of protein and fat. 



Striking progress has been made in re- 

 cent years in the study of soils. This ap- 

 plies especially to the survey and mapping 

 of soils. In this work, the Bureau of Soils 

 is easily the leader. There is a tendency 

 in some quarters to regard the survey, 

 mapping and analysis of soils as an end in 

 itself. It is true that such work is highly 

 important, but it should also be regarded 

 as a basis on which to make further soil 

 investigations so that we may become fully 

 familiar with the properties and charac- 

 teristics of each type. In a sense, the soil 

 survey should be regarded as the begin- 

 ning of soil studies. 



In other respects our knowledge of soils 

 has been increased by recent investigations. 

 We now know more concerning the nature 

 and constituents of the organic matter of 

 the soil, and something more concerning 

 its biological properties. We also know 

 that, on an average, the needs of the soil 

 for fertilizer nitrogen in pot experiments 

 is related to the total nitrogen of the soil. 

 We know that the active potash of the soil 

 is related to the average needs of the soil 

 for potash in pot experiments, and that 

 plants have the power to exhaust the active 

 potash and to take up more potash than 

 they need. We know that, on an average, 

 the active phosphoric acid of the soil is re- 



