August 31, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



329 



the membership been offered to all who 

 sought it, there is little doubt that the So- 

 ciety would have scarcely survived long 

 enough to hold ten annual meetings. As 

 it is the membership has gradually increased 

 and is larger than ever before, with other 

 capable men ready to seek admittance. 

 The Society was never so strong as it is 

 to-day and the chances are that with 

 wise management it will long continue to 

 strengthen. 



Every person who has long been an ac- 

 tive member of any of the societies above 

 mentioned, and many others, must be aware 

 that a few persons in each need to contin- 

 ually exert themselves to prevent the death 

 of the Society. 



Probably there is no exception to the 

 general rule that, a society like a business 

 enterprise, before meeting with any marked 

 degree of success must pass through some 

 trials, metaphorically, must have the 

 mumps, the chicken pox, measles, whoop- 

 ing cough, the grippe, after which, if it 

 stand the strain well, it may be ready to 

 engage in successful work. 



In 1887, Congress began appropriating to 

 each state and territory $15,000 a year 

 for conducting experiments in agriculture. 

 During the same period, the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has rapidly extended its 

 work, covering almost every conceivable 

 field of agriculture and even some beyond 

 its limits. The chiefs, and assistants and 

 students are usually most capable and num- 

 ber all told over 600 persons. 



The work performed by the Department 

 is stupendous, covering a range of topics 

 in a most creditable manner, and the value 

 to the country is beyond estimate. To fa- 

 cilitate the work of experiment stations, 

 including the agricultural colleges, and a 

 small number from the department of agri- 

 culture, an annual conference of delegates 

 is held once a year. Not only are the 

 traveling expenses of these delegates paid, 



but the proceedings are printed and widely 

 distributed by the government. Some have 

 said, " Why isn't this an ideal plan, and 

 why cannot these delegates from college and 

 station perform all that it was intended 

 should be done by the Society for the Pro- 

 motion of Agricultural Science?" Here is 

 the answer : (1) The presidents of the col- 

 leges and the directors of the stations are 

 almost the only persons who attend these 

 conferences offcener than once or twice in 

 five years or more, and most of those who 

 perform the experiments are never sent to 

 the meetings. This scarcely gives any op- 

 portunity for the experimenters and profes- 

 sors of the colleges to maintain a continued 

 interest in committee work and in other re- 

 spects. For these reasons and others, a con- 

 siderable number of them have become dis- 

 couraged and advise standing by the So- 

 ciety for the Promotion of Agricultural Sci- 

 ence. (2) Not two-thirds of our members 

 are connected with any experiment station 

 in the United States, and therefore, are in- 

 eligible as delegates to the meetings. (3) 

 The time for holding the meetings of the 

 station delegates comes at a season of the 

 year when the teachers are busy in labora- 

 tory and class room. (4) Other reasons at 

 this time need not be given. 



It is not only a pleasant privilege, but a 

 duty, even a necessity for teachers of vari- 

 ous sciences and arts in agricultural courses 

 to meet occasionally for acquaintance, each 

 helping the other. Every year new sub- 

 jects are developed and new and improved 

 methods are discovered for demonstration. 

 He who does not continually exert himself, 

 will soon fall behind the race. No where 

 is this more apparent than in agricultural 

 colleges and experiment stations, for their 

 work is of recent origin. 



As athletics in these times interests nearly 

 all students in a university, so the modern 

 trend of agricultural education interests 

 every one of our members. We are all in- 



