July 20, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



93 



farmers who plow and sow and reap as their 

 fathers did and who are suspicious of innova- 

 tions, of book-farming, and of new ideas in 

 general. 



It remained for the National Agricultural 

 Department, by a stroke of that common sense 

 which we call genius, to begin the work of 

 * demonstration ' on the farms of farmers who 

 themselves work them. A report has been 

 published by the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 which explains the ' farmers' cooperative dem- 

 onstration work ' done in Texas and Louisiana 

 under the direction of Dr. S. A. Knapp; and 

 that is a pamphlet which seems likely to show 

 a new hope for mankind. 



The method of instructing farmers is sim- 

 plicity itself. A demonstrator goes to a farm- 

 er and persuades him to do two or three such 

 simple new things as to prepare his land in 

 the fall or winter, to plow it deep, to practise 

 intensive farming — that is, to cultivate it bet- 

 ter — and to select his seed. This pamphlet is 

 made up of reports from these ' demonstra- 

 tors.' Wherever one farmer has once done 

 these things on a small area under the direc- 

 tion of a demonstrator, the results have caused 

 a change in the general agricultural practise 

 of the neighborhood. The whole problem is 

 to do such work in every neighborhood. These 

 reports contain such remarks as these: 



Six years ago an average yield of 30 per cent, 

 of lint cotton was considered very good. Now we 

 often have cotton that yields as high as 38 per 

 cent, of lint. That alone in the cotton crop of the 

 South means a profit of about $30,000,000. ( From 

 Palestine, Texas.) 



The seed we gave out last season produced 

 from a third to three times as much as the old 

 varieties. At Grosbeck, where 7,000 acres of cot- 

 ton will be planted this year, a good season will 

 produce 1,000 more bales than the same acre- 

 age would have yielded planted in the old way. 

 (From Houston, Texas.) 



In 1904 I had to be very careful how I ap- 

 proached a farmer. He would say he cared 

 nothing about our book farming. Now they in- 

 sist on my going to see them. There is 50 per 

 cent, improvement in our agriculture as com- 

 pared with a few years ago. (From Shreveport, 

 La.) 



The area over which this kind of instruction 

 is carried on has this year been greatly ex- 



tended. If this be not education that tells, 

 then what is? One philosophical observer of 

 this movement has called it ' the most impor- 

 tant work in the world.' — The World's Work. 



OBSERVATORIES AND ASTRONOMERS OF 

 THE WORLD. 



The Committee of Bibliography and of 

 Astronomical Sciences of the Royal Observa- 

 tory of Belgium has undertaken to publish a 

 list of the observatories and astronomers of 

 the world. A request for information, in the 

 form of a list of questions, with a model reply 

 relating to the astronomical service at the 

 Uccle Observatory, Belgium, has been ad- 

 dressed to all the directors of observatories. 

 In addition the list will include such astron- 

 omers (university professors, amateurs, etc.) 

 who are not attached to any observatory, but 

 are, nevertheless, actively engaged in astro- 

 nomical research. The information already 

 sent will enable the committee to draw up not 

 only a list of observatories, with their geo- 

 graphical coordinates and the members of the 

 staff, but also a table showing the astronomical 

 activity of the world, thanks to the facts given 

 as to the instruments at the disposal of each 

 institution, the pieces of research undertaken, 

 and the papers published. The directors of 

 those observatories who have not received the 

 question-form, or who have not yet forwarded 

 a reply, as well as unattached astronomers, 

 are requested to send the information desired, 

 as soon as possible, addressed to the chairman 

 of the committee. Professor P. Stroobant, 

 astronomer at the Royail Observatory of Bel- 

 gium, Uccle, Belgium. 



ELIZABETH THOMPSON SCIENCE FUND. 

 The 31st meeting of the board of trustees 

 was held at the Harvard Medical School, Bos- 

 ton, Mass., on June 25. The following officers 

 were elected: 



President — Henry P. Bowditch. 

 Treasurer — Charles S. Rackemann. 

 Secretary — Charles S. Minot. 



Professor Bowditch offered his resignatioK 

 as trustee, since he had now withdrawn from 

 active participation in scientific work. The 



