26 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 17 
his remarks verbally within the time rather than submit a paper which 
would cover no more time than the remarks, I do not see how there could 
be objection. The recommendation is not contrary to our present 
practice,except that the time limit on papers is cut from 15 to 10 minutes. 
Voted that the report be adopted. 
President A. G. Ruggles: Is there any new business? 
Mr. D. L. Van Dine: I would like to present a statement in regard 
to the Association taking an active interest in the Tropical Plant Re¬ 
search Foundation. 
STATEMENT CONCERNING THE TROPICAL PLANT RESEARCH 
FOUNDATION SUBMITTED TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF 
ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS AT THE CINCINNATI MEETING, 
DECEMBER 31, 1923 
Many of our present day necessities are products of the tropics and in the future 
we will be increasingly dependent upon the crops of the tropical zone. The quantities 
of sugar and oils, fiber and rubber, coffee and cocoa, fruits and vegetables, that we 
import annually, are only the vanguard of the future supplies that w r ill be sought 
within that territory. The production, preparation, and shipment of these products 
involve many factors in need of research that have as yet received little study. With 
the exception of the areas under the immediate jurisdiction of this country, the 
tropical agriculture of the western hemisphere does not have the counterpart of the 
governmental and institutional agencies which contribute so much to crop production 
in this country. 
The Tropical Plant Research Foundation was organized during the past year 
under the auspices of the National Research Council and is to be incorporated under 
the laws of the District of Columbia governing scientific and public welfare organi¬ 
zations. The National Research Council will continue to be represented by a member 
of the Board of Trustees and will hold the funds of .the Foundation. Funds will be 
received from individuals, firms, corporations, or governments, under written con¬ 
tracts outlining the subjects of research and defining the methods of procedure. 
Each investigation of a definite problem will be prearranged under a project plan. 
The money appropriated for one project will not be used for another, except that a 
specified portion may be expended for the maintenance of the central office of the 
Foundation. The particular objects of the Foundation are “to promote research . . . 
of the plants and crops of the tropics, to conduct investigations . . . and to publish 
the results thereof, and to establish and maintain such temporary or permanent 
stations and laboratories in the tropical countries as may be necessary for the ac¬ 
complishment of these objects.” 
The administration of the Foundation is vested in nine trustees (five scientific 
and four industrial) who elect their successors. It is the aim of the Foundation to 
have the scientific trustees represent the several national societies whose scientific 
field are those with which the purposes of the Foundation are primarily concerned. 
These societies will be asked to nominate a member of the society to represent the 
Association on the Board of Trustees of the Foundation. The first societies to be 
approached in this matter are The American Phytopathological Society and the 
