Work In Agriculture

The statement of Secretery Wiison, recently given to the press, to the effect that our institutious of leaming fail to supply men properly tr.-uned for oxpert work in agriculture, does not apply to the Unlverslry of Michigan, whose graduates have been in demand for the special scientific service of the l'nited States Department of Agriculture at Washington, as well as m the jiirrieultm-al experiment stations of states east and west, and in colleges of agriculture. In the chemical división of the department at Washington, the chemical alumni oí the University of Michigan have done a great deal of work, aud their nanies are com;uon in tre pubiieations of the depaTtment. Among tliese names are those of E. E. Ewell. of the class of '88. C. A. Orampton, of '82, (i. h. Spencer, of '82, H. B. Parsons, of '70, and W. H. Krug, of '80. IVrhaps ao collection o( the bulletins of the Agrlcultnral Department luis had wider use in general referenee than the collection on food analysis issued in 1887. mul over half of' tiiis L-ook rests upon the work of men wiio received training and direetton and emhusiasm for this vvork in the chemical laboratory at Ann Afbor. A work of reference by the directer of this laboratory may be found at the desks of agrieultuTal chemists whererer fehey are. In Xew York city, 3. E. Geisder, a Saginaw boy traiued at Ann ArböT, has been cheinist for the Xew York State Department of Agricultura íor some fifteen years, and is flghtlng tlie batöes of the farmers ou colored oleouargarines in the courts at tlie present time. In the New York State Agrieultural Experiment Station at Geneva, of eight chemists, five are gradúa tes of the University of Michigan. Mr. Cady, a gradúate of last June, has just been appointed to chemisal work in the Missouri State Agricultura! Experiment Station. The chlef ehcuiist of the Agrlcultural Station at Brookiugs, South Dakota. is James H. Snep rrd, oí 'Michigan, an Aun Arhor gradúate. C. B. Cochran, or twelve years or more an analyst of foods for tJie Pennsylvania State Board of Agrieultnre at Westehester, Pa., has two degrees from Ann Arbor. the seeoad taken u-pon his publisiied rösearehes upon analysis of butter. Mr. A. L. Kniseley, a Benton Harbor boy. took his Master's degree at the University oí Michigan upou his pirblished iuvestigations of the ehemistry of eheese factory work at the Geneva Station. Last semester the advanced leeture course of the director of the ehemical laboratory at the University, an eiective ceñirse ou "chosen subjects" was devoted to the recent hlgher chetniistiy of sugars, starclies. and protelds, as food produets of agriculture. Some twenty-tw students elected the course, süowing their interest in this class oí subjects. This se nies ter. Mr. Sukey, an expert sugar eliemlst, aas made bundreds of beet sngar analyses in this ialioratory and has found. witli the students working with hin. every facility. The botánica! departiuent of the University has also tralned men who now iill important poBitlons at varion:; agricultura! stations of the country. One of tliwn, x. B. PJerce, al preaeni in the pathological laboratory main talned by the U. S. Department of AgTiculture at Santa Anna. California, kns sa veil inillions oC dollars to the Pacific coasl by bis researöbes into me plum and the grape-vine diseases. Erwin F. Sinith, who was graduated B. 'S. in Bioloy in 1S8G and D. S. in 1S89, has made important fliscoveries in plant pathology in the e:tsteni pari of the United States, especially in u-ui to diseases of melons and peacli trees. Filibert Rotn, of the elass oí '90, is at present engaged iu the Forestty División of the AgrlcirituraJ Department, and is coñducting important investida tinas in the conditions for foresi restaratiou,, preservation and growth. and in all that pertalas to tinïber physics, viz.: the strength and qnality of tiniber obtainable under specific conditions. Mr. Korh lias recently resumed work at Washington af ter a considerable stndy of timber in Wisoonsiu. Gcorge B. Sndwoivh. class of '85, is ,-ilso of the nssisiants in the Botani-cal División of tiie .saine DepaTtment of Agricnlture. None pi these men was pTepared iirectly for this special work. but the general training of the University botanica] and biológica! departmeots haa eoabled thean to commaud these posi!i()l,y.