344 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 531. 



iu the past, but that the true iinit should 

 be the subject itself. He pointed out tliat 

 the University of Illinois now has more 

 teachers in agriculture than it had students 

 five years ago, and that as soon as the num- 

 ber of instructors was doubled the number 

 of students doubled. He expressed the 

 belief that the interest in agriculture on 

 the part of the students was usually about 

 in proportion to the number of instructors 

 in that subject, and that greater differen- 

 tiation and increased provision for teach- 

 ing the various branches of agriculture 

 w^ould meet with the same result every- 

 M-here that it did at his institution. 



A discussion of the degrees which should 

 be given on the completion of the under- 

 graduate courses in agriculture in the land- 

 grant colleges, led by President G. A. 

 Harter, of Delaware, brought out consid- 

 erable difference of opinion, some contend- 

 ing for the B.S. and B.A. degrees, while 

 others advocated the degrees B.Agr. and 

 B.S. A. for the agricultural students, as 

 more definitely expressing the courses 

 which they had pursued. 



The question as to the intent and pur- 

 pose of the Morrill Act in regard to mili- 

 tary instruction was introduced by a paper 

 by President M. H. Buekham, of Vermont. 

 The special interest in this subject has 

 grown out of General Order 65 issued by 

 the War Department, which prescribes the 

 amount of military instruction which the 

 officers detailed to the land-grant colleges 

 for this duty are expected to require. 

 Some of the institutions have found them- 

 selves unable to comply with these require- 

 ments, and as a result the detail has been 

 withdrawn. President Buekham suggested 

 that less emphasis be placed on the manual 

 and technical branches of military training 

 and more upon the intellectual topics in 

 the military art, since the students at these 

 land-grant colleges 'take military tactics 

 as a part of a liberal education, not to fit 



them to serve as enlisted men. ' The ciuite 

 lengthy discussion following this paper 

 showed that with the general advocacy of 

 the importance of military instruction 

 called for by the IMorrill Act, there was a 

 (luite general dissent from the present re- 

 {juirenients of the War Department; and 

 the executive committee of the association 

 was finally instructed to present the views 

 of the association to the authorities at 

 Washington. 



SECTION ON EXPERIMENT STATION WORK. 



This section considered the general sub- 

 ject of the breeding and improvement of 

 plants and animals, and held a conference 

 on the question of the amount of teaching 

 which it is desirable for station workers 

 to do. 



The development of knowledg? regarding 

 methods of breeding plants and animals, 

 and the working out of some of the under- 

 lying principles, were presented in a paper 

 by Professor W. M. Hays, who expressed 

 a strong belief in the importance of sys- 

 tematic work in breeding and its great com- 

 mercial application. 



Dr. T. L. Lyon, of Nebraska, spoke upon 

 'Improvement in the Quality of AYheat. ' 

 describing the methods which he is working 

 out in this line as distinguished from selec- 

 tion for yield alone. Since a high yield 

 and high nitrogen content do not neces- 

 sarily go together, it was pointed out that 

 there is danger in selecting Avheat for yield 

 alone that the quality will be injured, and 

 hence it was maintained that the quality 

 should be taken account of in breeding or 

 selecting for yield. 



Professor H. Snyder, of Minnesota, 

 called attention to the difference in value 

 of wheat for various purposes, and the lack 

 of standards: and on his motion a com- 

 mittee of three was appointed on standards 

 for determining the value of cereals. 



In a paper on 'Animal Breeding,' Pro- 

 fessor C. F. Curtiss, of Iowa, reviewed the 



