JULY 28, 1899. ] 
mals. The committee, however, conceded 
that there were important pedagogical rea- 
sons favoring the teaching of the principles 
of zootechny as a whole before proceeding 
to discuss their practical application to the 
art of animal husbandry. Explanation 
was also made of the general considerations 
which had governed the committee in con- 
structing its syllabi for both agronomy and 
zootechny. An interesting discussion fol- 
lowed this report, in which some of the 
difficulties in separating instruction in 
technical agriculture from that in agricul- 
tural chemistry, economic botany, soil 
physics and other related sciences were 
pointed out. The committee was continued, 
and hopes during the next year to com- 
plete its outline of the college course in ag- 
riculture, by making syllabi for the courses 
in agrotechny, rural engineering and rural 
economics. 
The absorbing interest which the Associa- 
tion takes in questions relating to the im- 
provement of courses and instruction in ag- 
riculture and mechanic arts was further 
shown by the relatively large number of 
papers on these subjects read and dis- 
cussed at this meeting. Such were the 
papers on the principles which should un- 
derlie the formation of a course in agricul- 
ture, by Dr. C. E. Coates, Jr., of Louisiana ; 
the short dairy course, by Professor W. J. 
Spillman, of Washington; horticultural 
education in Minnesota, by Director W. M. 
Liggett, of Minnesota; university extension 
in agriculture, by President J. H. Raymond, 
of West Virginia; the teaching of machine 
design, by J. T. Faig, of Kentucky; the agri- 
cultural engineer—the latest developed spe- 
cialist, by W. T. Magruder, of Ohio; some 
objections to early differentiation of engi- 
neering courses by J. OC. Nagle, of Texas ; 
and teaching methods in the mechanic arts, 
by H. Gwinner, of Maryland. 
The most largely attended section was 
that on Agriculture and Chemistry. This 
SCIENCE. 
111 
was due in large measure to the program, 
which included subjects of vital importance 
to the West. These in general related to 
alkali soils, irrigation, and the range feed- 
ing of cattle. In the absence of Professor 
Hilgard, Professor R. H. Loughridge, of 
California, discussed the alkali soils of the 
Pacific coast and their utilization, showing 
the nature of ‘ white’ and ‘ black’ alkali 
and the means adopted by the California 
Station for the reclamation of alkali lands. 
The problems related to similar lands 
in New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming 
were respectively described by Professors 
A. Goss, F. W. Traphagen and B. C. Buf- 
fum. Some interesting work of the Wyo- 
ming Station relating to the effects of alkali 
on the germination of seeds was described 
by Professor Buffum. Irrigation problems 
in the West were outlined by Professor L. 
G. Carpenter, of Colorado, who illustrated 
his remarks with interesting charts show- 
ing the economy and waste in the use of 
irrigation water in practice on different 
farms. The work in irrigation lately under- 
taken by the Department of Agriculture 
was explained by Director True and Pro- 
fessor Elwood Mead, the irrigation expert 
in charge of these investigations. Professor 
E. J. Wickson, of California, told some of 
the facts learned from practice in the use of 
irrigation for orchard fruits. He urged that 
irrigation showed beneficial results not only 
in the increased vigor and productiveness 
of the trees, but in the improved appear- 
ance and quality of the fruit. 
On the range feeding of cattle papers 
were presented by Professors W. W. Cooke, 
of Colorado; C. D. Smith, of Michigan, and 
H. T. French, of Idaho. The latter con- 
tended that his experience indicated that 
range steers could be conveniently and 
profitably fattened for market by stall feed- 
ing following that on the range. Mr. V. K. 
Chesnut, of the Division of Botany, De- 
partment of Agriculture, aroused consider- 
