62 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 471. 



now being printed by the Library of Con- 

 gress, and can be obtained at small cost, as 

 may also the catalogue cards of the Library 

 of Congress relating to agriculture. The 

 card catalogue of the Department Library 

 now contains over 110,000 cards, and the 

 library is thus in position to render more 

 efficient aid than ever before to the agricul- 

 tural colleges and experiment stations, by 

 furnishing them information in regard to 

 the literature on particular topics, loaning 

 books, etc. Attention was called in this 

 report to the combined index, now in press, 

 to the first twelve volumes of 'Experiment 

 Station Record,' and to the card index of 

 agricultural literature issued by the Office 

 of Experiment Stations. 



The report of the committee on methods 

 of teaching agriculture, presented by A. C. 

 True, was on the relation of the natural 

 sciences to agriculture in a four years' 

 course, and presented a plan for a course 

 of study including these natural sciences 

 and noting in brief the principal subjects 

 under each to be covered. The report 

 pointed out that the older method of ar- 

 ranging the courses in agriculture tended 

 to make experts in analytical or agricultural 

 chemistry or in pathology, rather than to 

 give a broad training in agriculture and 

 the natural sciences. It was urged that 

 there should be a sufficient period of gen- 

 eral study before specialties are taken up, 

 and that the paths of the specialist and 

 the agriculturist should early diverge. 

 The college course can not be expected to 

 fit men for expert work in the Department 

 of Agriculture, and the experiment sta- 

 tions, but for this work at least a mas- 

 ter's degree and ere long the doctor's de- 

 gree are likely to be required. This paper 

 brought out much discussion, illustrating 

 the marked interest which has developed 

 within the past few years in the matter 

 of courses of study and in agricultural 

 education of different grades. The work 



of this committee was highly commended 

 and was pronounced one of the most impor- 

 tant features of the association's work. 



The standing committee on agricultural 

 engineering presented its first report 

 through W. E. Stone, chairman. The re- 

 port pointed out the increase in the number 

 of engineering problems in agriculture and 

 their prominence, the enormous extent to 

 which agricultural machinery, and espe- 

 cially that of a complicated character, is 

 being used by American farmers, the prob- 

 lems of irrigation and of drainage, the 

 terracing of hillsides, the construction of 

 roads and other topics, as illustrating the 

 desirability of more systematic attention to 

 instruction in these topics in connection 

 Avith the college courses, and of extended 

 scientific investigation. The courses in 

 rural engineering in the colleges, it was 

 stated, have not kept pace with the progress 

 of the times. The committee declared in 

 favor of separate departments of rural en- 

 gineering in the colleges, the enlargement 

 of the woi'k of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture to include agricultural engineering 

 in addition to irrigation, and recommended 

 that the executive committee of the associa- 

 tion aid in securing the increased appro- 

 priation asked from congress for this pur- 

 pose. This report was adopted, as was 

 also a resolution conunending the work of 

 the Department along the lines of irriga- 

 tion. The report brought out considerable 

 discussion and indicated that this matter 

 is occupying the attention of a number of 

 institutions at this time. 



The report of the committee on coopera- 

 tion between the experiment stations and 

 the Department of Agriculture, presented 

 by E. A. Bryan, called attention to the 

 statement of fundamental principles em- 

 bodied in the two previous reports, ex- 

 pressed gratification at the appointment of 

 a committee Avithin the Department of 

 Agriculture for perfecting the details of a 



