December 6, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



887 



operative investigations carried on there. 

 These investigations have for their object 

 the improvement of the ranges through the 

 exclusion of live stock, the sowing and har- 

 rowing in of seeds of native plants, the in- 

 troduction of new forage plants suited to 

 the arid region, and the construction of 

 small embankments for holding the storm 

 water. As conducted for two years on a 

 reserve of 350 acres they have given prom- 

 ising results. Professor F. Lamson-Scrib= 

 ner, agrostologist of the Department of 

 Agriculture, gave an account of the co- 

 operative work under his direction, which 

 includes arrangements with seventeen ex- 

 periment stations. 



The problems of irrigation in humid re- 

 gions and the investigations in progress in 

 this line were described and discussed by 

 Professor Elwood Mead, of the Office of 

 Experiment Stations; Professor E. B. 

 Voorhees, director of the New Jersey Ex- 

 periment Stations; F. H. Newell, of the 

 TJ. S. Geological Survey and Professor H. 

 J. Waters, director of the Missouri Ex- 

 periment Station. 



Papers on plant breeding were presented 

 by Professor W. J. Stillman, of the Wash- 

 ington Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 and Professor W. M. Hays, of the Minne- 

 sota Experiment Station. There was also 

 a paper on the artificial plant food require- 

 ments of different soils and the methods 

 employed in fertilizer experiments, by Doc- 

 tor B. W. Kilgore, director of the North 

 Carolina Experiment Station. 



In the report of the section on horticul- 

 ture and botany the marked strengthen- 

 ing of advanced courses in these subjects 

 in colleges was pointed out. The demand 

 for especially qualified men in horticulture 

 was stated to be greater than the supply. 

 There has recently been rapid progress in 

 bacterial and physiological investigations 

 and special studies on the selection and 

 breeding of plants. At the meeting of the 



section there was an earnest discussion of the 

 relations of instruction and research in hor- 

 ticulture in the agricultural colleges, called 

 forth by a paper by Professor E. S. Goff, of 

 the University of Wisconsin. The question 

 of cooperation between the farmer and the 

 experiment station, and the best methods 

 of such cooperation, were also much dis- 

 cussed on the basis of the paper by J. Craig, 

 of the New York Cornell Experiment Sta- 

 tion. Other papers were also read in this 

 section on observations concerning the first 

 and second generations of plants, by Pro- 

 fessor B. D. Halsted, of the New Jersey 

 Agricultural Experiment Stations ; on the 

 efiect of light and heat on the germination 

 of Kentucky blue gi'ass, and on the quality 

 of some commercial samples of grass and 

 clover seed, by E. Brown of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. 



Professor L. C. Corbett, of this Bureau, 

 described the experimental farm of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture which is being 

 established on a part of the Arlington 

 estate near Washington. It is intended to 

 plant on this farm extensive collections of 

 varieties of fruits in order to have authen- 

 tically named specimens for comparative 

 studies ; cultural experiments with fruits 

 and crops, and phenological investigations 

 are also to be undertaken there. Mr. F. D. 

 Gardner, of the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, who is in charge of the newly estab- 

 lished experiment station at Porto Rico, 

 made an interesting exhibition of fruits 

 which he had brought from that island ; 

 and H. J. Webber, of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, exhibited specimens of cowpeas 

 which are believed to be resistant to the 

 attacks of nematodes. 



In this connection it may be well to state 

 that a newly organized society of official 

 horticultural inspectors for the United 

 States and Canada held its sessions in 

 Washington, November 11 to 13. Repre- 

 sentatives from fiffceen States were present. 



