78 
Another subject on the programme was cooperation between the 
experiment stations in field and feeding experiments, but this was 
widened to include cooperative field experiments by farmers. Mr. 
Woods, who opened the discussion, considered cooperative field exper- 
inents with farmers as of value chiefly from an educational point of 
view and not as furnishing safe data for scientific deductions. He main- 
tained, however, that cooperation in feeding experiments, especially 
in the formulation of plans for the work, was exceedingly desirable. 
Mr. Morrow spoke of the advantage of stations consulting each other 
as to minor details of parallel experiments, in order that the results of 
their work might be comparable. He also urged the importance of more 
careful study of the relation of water to soils and crops, and suggested 
the advisability of cooperation among the stations looking to the 
discountenancing of exaggerated claims made by seedsmen for new 
varieties of plants. 
Mr. Flagg emphasized the importance of studying the water content 
and acidity of the soil of plats used in fertilizer experiments. 
Mr. Hays referred to extensive rotation experiments which the Min- 
nesota station proposed to undertake at three substations in the State. 
Mr. Smith spoke of the advisability of station workers everywhere 
being supplied with diagrams of station farms on which experiments 
were conducted and with data as to the character of the soil, amount 
of rainfall, etc. 
Mr. Frear suggested the need of cooperation among stations in inves- 
tigations to determine the -effect of climate on plants. Mr. Mills 
explained how in his Province satisfactory results had been secured 
in cooperative experiments with about 2,000 farmers, most of them ex- 
students of the agricultural college. 
Mr. Henry stated that the past experience of the stations in the line 
of cooperation has not been encouraging. He believed that " private 
rather than public methods of affiliation Avould prove effective." 
Mr. Armsby doubted the practicability of the formulation by a com- 
mittee of plans of cooperation in feeding experiments. 
Mr. Redding favored cooperation with neighboring stations. 
A motion introduced by Mr. Woods that a request be made that 
one session of the convention in 1895 be devoted to the discussion of 
methods of feeding in experiments with dairy animals was carried. 
Further details regarding matters presented to the convention by 
this section are incorporated in the general proceedings (see especially 
pp. 49, 50, and 52). 
