With this in mind, therefore, no collaborative work was planned. Work, however, was undertaken by one investigator under the direction of the referee, with the hope of developing quantitative methods for the determination of ginger and of capsicum in ginger ale and other ginger drinks. Many difficulities have been encountered in this work and while no satisfactory method has so far been developed, the preliminary work has yielded interesting information which has a direct bearing on the controversy regarding the use of capsicum in ginger ale. The referee is not in a position to report definitely on this matter, but can submit only a report of progress with the suggestion that the work be continued.

ADDRESS BY THE HONORARY PRESIDENT.

H. W. WILEY (Good Housekeeping, Bureau of Foods, Sanitation and Health, Washington, D. C.).

I think we are getting on in the world. I remember the earlier days when we used to meet at Cabin John Bridge, and all could get on one trolley car, and those, by the way, were very happy days, which I remember with great pleasure. Those were the days before I had turned prohibitionist, and it was not considered bad form to say "Prosit". That is one Latin word now that is taboo. Most people think it is German, but that is because they do not understand Latin. After the Cabin John Bridge days, we went first to a small hotel until we graduated, and for a long while we went to the Raleigh. Now we have come to the Willard. That is what we call "high life". Now I promise you that, if this country ever has the great good fortune to make me President of the United States, I will invite you to meet in the White House.

I know that very few of your members came to this town with the idea of insulting me. One of them did, but I am not going to name him. In the English Parliament to name a man is the highest disgrace that can be heaped upon him. I will tell you, however, what he said: "Have you written out and committed to memory your annual extemporaneous address to the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists?" Well, now, in one sense that was a compliment. When a man can stand up and make an extemporaneous address that has all the ear marks of the midnight oil, it shows the possibilities of the human intellect. Now you are going to get another one of that kind. If I remember, my last extemporaneous address was on the subject of colloidal chemistry, and I can only say that great progress has been made in the application of colloidal chemistry in the experience of man, because, if ever things were

mixed up more completely in the history of the world than now, I do not know when it was. We have nothing but colloids afloat in a sea of blood-itself a sea of colloids. I am not going to make another address on colloidal chemistry because I am sure I would not be able to equal the address I formerly made, but I do want to call attention to the condition of affairs to which this disorganized condition of the world has brought us, and it emphasizes what has always been known to be, and now is recognized by everybody to be the fundamental industry of the world-the industry of agriculture. This is the industry which you are aiming to promote, and it is one which today has supreme importance, more even than munitions and supplies of guns, more even than the man power of the world. The problem of agriculture looms up as the great predominant problem of today. Some of its aspects are not, perhaps, peculiarly chemical, and I am going to take the liberty this morning of disgressing somewhat from the path of chemistry, and call attention to some of the problems in agriculture which, although partly chemical, are not entirely so.

First of all, the problem of feeding the world is a problem peculiarly agricultural, and also, to a considerable extent, a problem which is peculiarly chemical. The food problem today is paramount in importance as an agricultural problem, both from the point of production and the point of distribution, and the agricultural chemist has a great deal to do with both. The production of food, as we all know, is a strictly agricultural-chemical problem. Given the area, given the climate, the amount of food produced is a problem of scientific agriculture. The better the principles of scientific agriculture are understood and practised by the farmer, the greater will be the yield of his fields, other things remaining equal. That being the case, the production of the crop is largely a matter of cultivation and plant food. The war has cut us off from one of the essential ingredients of plant food, without which the ration of the plant is unbalanced, namely, potash. The problem is to supply, if possible from other sources, the potash which we formerly received from Germany. Of course, there are no deposits of potash which compare in extent and inexhaustibility to those which are within the confines of the German Empire, and yet there are sources of potash which, if they could be utilized, might supply our need. There is enough potash locked up in the feldspar of this country to supply the nations of the earth for an unnumbered series of years, if it could be unlocked, and chemists are working upon that problem. The deposits of potash which we already have are being exploited, as you know, and a considerable amount of potash is now available which a few years ago was untouched. Even the dust from cement and other factory chimneys is being saved for the potash it contains. The sea is to be

utilized as far as possible, and the kelp is being harvested to a somewhat considerable extent in furthering this purpose. We are getting some potash, but at a price the farmer can ill afford to pay, or perhaps can not pay at all at the present time. It therefore seems to me that the application of potash to our fields in any considerable quantity, representing the needs of the crop, is altogether a difficult problem at the present time. Now that has taught some of us a good lesson. Many have learned that the soil contains sufficient potash for the crop, and that is a good lesson to learn, for, when the old supply again becomes available, the farmer will have learned that some soils are sufficiently rich in potash, so that it is not altogether necessary to purchase additional quantities. It is hoped that to this extent the shortage of potash may prove a blessing in disguise.

All other plant foods, as you know, have greatly increased in price. Take, for instance, the acid phosphate which is used as a basic fertilizer, and used more extensively than any other kind. This is a substance that helps unlock the imprisoned potash. The price has more than doubled since the war began. A few years ago, I was able to get acid phosphate by the carload at from nine dollars and fifty cents to ten dollars, laid down at my station, and now I pay twenty dollars, and perhaps I shall have to pay more before the war is over. This has led to the use of natural phosphate rock reduced to a fine powder; and, where the soil is inclined to be acid, that treatment apparently is giving very favorable results. I, myself, have tried it on my farm-I have treated about forty or fifty acres of some acid soil with natural phosphate rocks, and have had good results therefrom. But it does not do any good, or at least very little good, to put such a product on a soil which has been properly limed, and which is in a condition to bear leguminous crops. It is difficult to secure any visible good effect. In so far as nitrogenous fertilizers are concerned, the price has also gone up one hundred per cent or more, so that now fish scrap and tankage can not be purchased at a price which the farmer feels he is able to pay. Therefore, my experience is that all forms of plant food should be put on a strictly economic ration by the farmer. To this statement the reply is made that the farmer is receiving proportionately more for his crops and can pay the increased price without suffering any hardship. That is true in so far as it is applicable. If the farmer's crop is one hundred per cent more profitable than it was before, he can pay one hundred per cent more than he did for his plant foods. If, on the other hand, his crop is not that much more valuable, then he is working at a loss. This is one of the great problems of agriculture today-the feeding of the crop. It is driving us again into a path which we may in the future follow as a matter of choice. To supply nitrogenous fertilizers on the

farm, it is advisable to grow and plow under leguminous crops. That is being done to a very large extent in this country, and now, to a larger extent than before. The supply of nitric acid from the air, while promising, is yet commercially infinitesimal. The price of lime has also greatly increased. I have just joined the large and increasing body of agriculturists who are not using burned lime any more. The farmer who has a large amount of manure from his stables can not afford to use burned lime on his land, for if you have any experience you know how wasteful it is. It would be interesting to drive about in the country where freshly burned lime has been spread on stable manure and smell the ammonia in the air, as you can do at any time, even several days after the application. So we are growing beans and other leguminous crops, not only for the hay, but for the actual benefit which we get by ploughing the crop under. In this way we have been able, so far, to keep our crops almost, if not quite, up to normal. There has been very little shortage in the magnitude of the crop by reason of the increased cost of production. That part of the problem seems to have worked itself out most satifactorily. We come now to the most important problem of all, and that is man power. How are we to fill the place of our farmer soldiers? There are two ways of overcoming that difficulty. One is to secure a larger number of laborers, and the other is to go to work yourself. I think the best advice I can give is to go to work yourself. I am somewhat of a believer in Tolstoy's theory, that it is a crime for any man to eat anything which he, by his own labor on his own farm, has not produced. If every one could be brought to that way of thinking, the scarcity of farm labor would be quickly overcome. I go right out into the field and work, and I feel sure that I have fulfilled Tolstoy's theory. I believe that every bit of food which I and my family shall eat during the next year has been produced directly or indirectly by my own hands. I do not sit down to my table and feel that I am robbing any one.

DEVOLUTION.

Those who live in the city must move out. The great curse of this country is concentration in cities, and the great curse of our industries. is not that they are industries, but that they are centered in cities. I am of the opinion that cities should not allow any productive industries, but should devote their energies to banking, transportation, and exchange. They should distribute commodities or make them available, but when they make anything out of a raw material, and dig into the soil and make something out of it, that is wrong. Every time you send a shoe factory or a machine factory to an agricultural region, you benefit not only those who work in that factory, but the farmers round about. We must devolute our cities, and this you see going on all the time.

Every one is going out to the country and getting a little place if he can. Do you realize that if you have one or two acres you can grow almost enough on it to supply your family? I know a banker in this city who has a half-acre of land, and he grows almost enough on that half-acre to supply his family with food. He can sell enough of the excess of the articles he raises to pay for the food he can not raise on his land. He understands how to get the most out of the soil. His wife does her own work in the house. These industrious people are doing a large part in the great struggle in which we are engaged.

MAN POWER.

Now as to man power. I remember James Whitcomb Riley's story of the "Old Man and Jim". That is one of the best stories I ever read and one of the most pathetic, for that matter. What I am going to call attention to is the worthlessness of Jim on the farm. While he never did anything on the farm, he was the old man's pride. The other sons of the farmer were his right-hand men, but although "Jim was the wildest boy he had" the old man was "all wrapped up in Jim”. But when the war broke out-the contest between the States that is called the Civil War-Jim enlisted and made an ideal soldier, for "his fightin' was good as his farmin' bad". If a great many people I know in the country made as good soldiers as they make bad farmers, it would be a blessing to have a lot more of them drafted into the Army. As it happened in my part of the community, the worthless farmers were not selected, and those who were industrious and of some account were taken. I should like a selective draft, too. I should like to make all of the boys in the country who will not work go into the Army. Instead of hanging around the railroad station they learn discipline and industry. When I go to my little place in the country I see dozens of young men hanging around the station. I suppose they want to see me--I do not know what else attracts them. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I should like to see a selective draft applied in such a way that they would ask each farmer who are good workmen and who are not. In that way, they might select an army of men whose "fighting would be as good as their farming was bad". Our man power is going to be utilized to a great extent on the field of battle, and I am one of those I may be misguided-who believe that every single activity and power of this country should be put behind the President in this great war. I do not care whether I agree with his policies or not. That is of no consequence. He is our President, he is the representative, the supreme authority of this great nation, and the man-I do not care what his political creed is-who does not stand behind the President