DECEMBEa 11, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



865 



11; Land-grant Engineering Association, No- 

 vember 11-13; Association of Official Seed 

 Analysts, November 12, 13; Association of 

 Feed Control Officials of the United States, 

 November 13, 14, and Association of Official 

 Agricultural Chemists, November 16-18. 



The general sessions of the Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- 

 ment Stations opened November 10. In an 

 address of greeting, the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, Hon. D. E. Houston, spoke of the in- 

 creasing realization of the unity of interests 

 of the department and the agricultural col- 

 leges, and of the widened opportunities for 

 service through this and through the passage 

 of the Smith-Lever extension act. He also 

 emphasized the additional responsibilities in- 

 curred, and especially the difficulty of securing 

 trained men to take up these new undertak- 

 ings. The development of strong rural eco- 

 nomics courses to provide workers in such 

 lines as marketing studies and the making of 

 country life more attractive was strongly 

 urged upon the agricultural colleges as well as 

 their assumption of a general position of 

 leadership in country life matters. 



In the report of the bibliographer, Dr. A. C. 

 True, of the Office of Experiment Stations, 

 discussed the form of extension publications, 

 calling attention to the great diversity of 

 practise now prevailing, and suggesting some 

 changes in the interests of uniformity, in- 

 creased availability, and ease of preservation 

 of these publications. Subsequently, a series 

 of recommendations from the agricultural li- 

 braries section of the American Library As- 

 sociation as to title pages, pagination and 

 similar matters in college and station publi- 

 cations in general received the consideration 

 and approval of the executive committee of 

 the association. 



Eor the standing committee on instruction 

 in agriculture, Dr. True reported as chairman 

 on farm practise requirements as a part of the 

 4-year college course. Much diversity among 

 institutions was discovered but the impor- 

 tance of the subject was strongly emphasized. 

 It was pointed out that failure to make pro- 

 vision for such practise decreases the effective- 



ness of instruction in agriculture, and that 

 students who are permitted to graduate with- 

 out it often bring upon the colleges merited 

 unfavorable criticism. The report is to be 

 printed as a separate at an early date. 



Dr. H. P. Armsby, of Pennsylvania, re- 

 ported for the committee on graduate study, 

 dealing especially with the Sixth Graduate 

 School of Agriculture successfully held at the 

 University of Missouri, June 29 to July 24. 

 A policy of concentration upon a few subjects 

 at the school was favored as well as the pro- 

 vision of some form of credit for work accom- 

 plished, and the need of greater attention by 

 the colleges and stations to ways for facilita- 

 ting the attendance of the younger members 

 of their staSs at this school was pointed out. 



Reports were also submitted by the stand- 

 ing committees on college, experiment station 

 and extension organization and policy. A plan 

 for student and faculty cooperation being 

 tried at the Iowa State College in such mat- 

 ters as the upkeep of the grounds, sanitation 

 and other minor improvements, and the pro- 

 tection of property was briefly reported by the 

 college committee. This committee also sum- 

 marized a questionnaire as to student charac- 

 ter records which indicated a general belief 

 in the desirability of such records but little 

 uniformity as to methods. The experiment 

 station committee emphasized the need for a 

 sharp differentiation of the field of the sta- 

 tion work from that of extension agencies, lim- 

 iting the scope of the station to the discovery 

 of new facts and methods and the testing of 

 them to a point sufficient to establish their 

 general truth and application. The prompt 

 publication of results and the preservation of 

 records in such form that in case of necessity 

 the work may be taken up by others and the 

 wider utilization of the Journal of Agricul- 

 tural Research were also recommended. The 

 report of the extension committee consisted 

 largely of descriptions and definitions of terms 

 commonly used in extension work. The ques- 

 tion of general agricultural terminology is 

 also to receive further study by a special com- 

 mittee subsequently authorized by the associa- 

 tion. 



