Januaey 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



63 



system of ' cooperation, and reiterated its 

 belief that a full and free consultation 

 between the stations and the members of 

 the department forces in regard to the 

 work undertaken in the several states is 

 very desirable and would do much to re- 

 move possible sources of friction. 



The standing committee on uniform fer- 

 tilizer laws, of which H. J. "Wheeler is 

 chairman, called attention to the satisfac- 

 tory progress which is being made in the 

 direction of greater uniformity, the recom- 

 mendations of the association having been 

 of value in securing the recent passage or 

 amendment of fertilizer laws in Indiana, 

 Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee 

 and other states. This report also in- 

 cluded recommendations concerning the 

 laws for feeding stuff inspection. 



The report of the standing committee on 

 pure-food legislation, made by W. A. 

 Withers, noted considerable progress along 

 the line of pure-food legislation during the 

 year. New legislation was enacted in two 

 states, and provisions made by congress for 

 the inspection and control by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of foods imported 

 from foreign countries. This was pro- 

 nounced an unusually important step in 

 food legislation, and its execution has re- 

 sulted in considerable progress in the prep- 

 aration of standards of purity. 



The farmers' institute work Avhich the 

 Department of Agriculture has taken up 

 was outlined by A. C. True, who stated 

 clearly the policy of the department in 

 regard to this work. There will be no 

 attempt to interfere with the state man- 

 agement of farmers' institutes in any way, 

 but rather to cooperate with the state 

 officials and to aid them in building up the 

 institutes in the several states. The de- 

 partment will be a general agency for co- 

 ordinating and strengthening this work 

 throughout the country. One of the main 

 objects at present is to help to increase the 



efficiency of the institute lecturers, now 

 numbering over 800, less than half of 

 whom are connected with the work of the 

 colleges or the stations. A corps of 

 specially trained institute workers was rec- 

 ommended as eventually desirable, to re- 

 lieve the college and station men of much 

 of the burden of this work, as it is the opin- 

 ion of the department that the prime object 

 of college men is to teach and of station 

 men to investigate. The speaker pointed 

 out the greatness and importance of the 

 farmers' institute enterprise as a means 

 for the future development of agriculture, 

 of building up of a proper system of agri- 

 cultural education and research, and de- 

 veloping a generation of farmers who will 

 be in a position to appreciate and apply the 

 results of the work of these institutes. 



The following officers were elected for 

 the ensuing year: 



President — W. 0. Thompson, of Ohio. 



Vice-Presidents — ^D. F. Houston, of Texas; J. C. 

 Hardy, of Mississippi; J. H. Worst, of North 

 Dakota; H. J. Wheeler, of Rhode Island; and B. 

 C. Buffum, of Wyoming. 



Secretary and Treasurer — E. B. Voorhees, of 

 New Jersey. 



Bibliographer — A. C. True, of Washington, D. C. 



Executive Committee — ^H. C. Wliite, of Georgia; 

 G. W. Atherton, of Pennsylvania; J. L. Snyder, of 

 Michigan; W. H. Jordan, of New York; and C. F. 

 Curtiss, of Iowa. 



Section on College Work and Administration — 

 Chairman, W. E. Stone, of Indiana; secretary, G 

 E. Fellows, of Maine; committee on program, W. 

 E. Stone, of Indiana, G. E. Fellows, of Maine, 

 and H. W. Tyler, of Massachusetts. 



Section on Experiment Station Work — Chair 

 man, E. H. Jenkins, of Connecticut; secretary. 

 M. A. Scovell, of Kentucky; committee on pro 

 gram, J. H. Shepperd, of North Dakota, B. W 

 Kilgore, of North Carolina, and M. A. Scovell 

 of Kentucky. 



In the meetings of the sections the most 

 important papers and discussions were those 

 on soil fertility, animal breeding, instruc- 

 tion in horticulture and botany, problems 

 of forest entomology, methods of work in 



