72 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 811 



of the state of Alabama any extensive de- 

 posits of phosphates or potash mineral 

 fertilizers. We realize that more and 

 more every year the success of our farmers 

 seems to depend upon their use of these 

 fertilizers, plus the general improvement 

 of the soil. This is because of the fact that 

 the phosphates, the potash and the nitro- 

 gen in our soils, the three great essential 

 mineral articles of plant food, are being 

 gradually used up, or washed out, and new 

 supplies must be added artificially, in order 

 that the plant may receive a sufficient 

 quantity of these to meet its needs. 



The millions of tons of coal which are 

 yearly produced and consumed in the state 

 of Alabama contain large quantities of 

 nitrogen that ought to be saved and trans- 

 formed into fertilizing materials. Further- 

 more, through not only your coal supply, 

 but through the great water-powers that 

 exist in Alabama, it will be possible to take 

 nitrogen from the atmosphere and trans- 

 form it into fertilizer materials for use 

 under your crops. 



You must also not only endeavor to find 

 supplies of phosphate and potash in the 

 state of Alabama, but, failing in this, you 

 must produce other products that j^ou may 

 export in exchange for the phosphate and 

 potash you may need to import. Further- 

 more, the systems of farming must be so 

 modified as to diminish, year by year, soil 

 exhaustion through the leeching out and 

 washing away of these valuable constitu- 

 ents. 



The mining industry and agriculture 

 will go hand in hand in their efforts to 

 build up and perpetuate the manufactures 

 and other varied industries of this state, 

 and will thus safeguard the public welfare 

 for the future no less than that of the pres- 

 ent. 



The recent progress of this itniversity 

 and your geological survey, and the con- 



struction and equipment of these new 

 buildings which we celebrate to-day, are 

 guarantees that Alabama's future as well 

 as its present is in safe hands. 



Joseph A. Holmes 

 Washington, D. C. 



•I CHARLES FAY WHEELERS 



It was with a sense of deep personal loss 

 that the associates of Professor Wheeler 

 learned of his death, March 5, at George 

 Washington University Hospital. While 

 those intimately associated with him were 

 perhaps aware of his gradually failing 

 strength, he was so cheerful in his greeting 

 each day, so uncomplaining, that no one real- 

 ized the extent or significance of his failing 

 health. 



The narrative of Professor Wheeler's early 

 life indicates that his career as a botanist may 

 have been the result of misfortune. Born June 

 14, 1842, at Mexico, Oswego County, N. T., 

 he spent his earliest years on the. farm. In 

 1857 he entered Mexico Academy in his native 

 town, but left that institution, as so many 

 other young men left college at that time, to 

 enter the army. He enlisted October 8, 1861, 

 as a private in Company B, Seventh Regiment 

 of the New York (Black Horse) Cavalry, to 

 serve three years, but was mustered out with 

 his company March 31, 1862. He again en- 

 listed August 20, 1862, as a private in Com- 

 pany F, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regi- 

 ment of New York Infantry, to serve three 

 years, and during the following winter was 

 encamped with his regiment on the hill in the 

 vicinity of the present location of Howard 

 University. The exposure and hardships he 

 was subjected to during this time proved too 

 much for him to withstand, and on March 21, 

 1863, he was discharged by reason of dis- 

 ability, and in reality never fully recovered 

 from the effects of service in the army. 



Following his discharge from the federal 

 army he was induced to go to friends at Hub- 

 bardston, Mich., where in the out-of-door life 

 he led it was hoped he might regain his health. 



^ Read before the Botanical Society of Washing- 

 ton, May 28, 1910. 



