Altogether the past year has been rather eventful in the history of the TGC. It has witnessed an increase in membership to 140 including 37 members in 21 foreign countries. The Coordinating Committee met for the first time and a meeting of members was held in conjunction with the AIBS convention at Ithaca. Minutes of the Ithaca meeting appear on a following page. The committee appointed to formulate a scheme of nomenciature has completed its assignment and presents its Rules of Nomenclature in this issue.
Also during the past year a revised mimeographed statement, was prepared to provide pertinent information concerning membership and activities of the TGC in answer to inquiries. The American Tomato Yearbook performed the very kind favor of printing this statement in their 1952 issue. A number of tomato workers responded and have since become members of the TGC. Unfortunately the article was also the source of information for a statement appearing in Journal of Heredity which confused the TGC and American Tomato Yearbooks. The Journal recently printed a correction, which we hope will clarify the functions of the two groups.
The resignation of H. M. Munger from the Coordinating Committee presented us with our first organizational problem. After considering the matter the Committee drafted a Statement of Policy, in which we proposed a set of rules governing conduct of TGC affairs. This statement was circulated among the members and was discussed at the Ithaca meeting, the attitude of which is summarized in the minutes on page 11. Thereafter copies of these minutes were sent to each member and a ballot was conducted on alternative methods of conducting affairs of the TGC with the following final tally:
In favor of continuing, subject to review, in our present form, replacing members of the Coordinating Committees as necessary by appointments of the Coordinating Committees 39 votes. In favor of adopting the Statement of Policy 18 votes. In favor of affiliating with an established scientific society, 1 vote. Invalid ballots (two choices indicated) 2 votes.
Having this mandate from the membership and choosing from members suggested as replacements by the Ithaca meeting, the Coordirating Committee elected Allan Burdick to replace H. M. Munger.
The finances of the TGC are considered to be in good shape. As expected, the balance accrued in 1951 readily paid off costs of Report No. 2. In the meantime the supply of Report No. 1 ran critically low. Since the stencils were found to be in good condition, an additional 70 copies were prepared. This unexpected expense was readily met by the balance plus assessments paid by new members joining during the year. Thus, in spite of this extra expense during the second half of the usual biannual assessment period, the TGC still has a balance of $29.02 (page 42). It is apparent that the present annual assessment of 50 cents per member is adequate, even for a much larger Report. The number of copies prepared of the present report is 250.
As a logical sequel to the Rules of Nomenclature, a complete list of all known genes with symbols and other appropriate information is being prepared. This list should appear in the next Report.
The increased interest in the TGC as manifested by the increased membership. The volume of comment in correspondence, number of contributions to the Report, and other activities is very reassuring to us. All of this support, which gives real meaning to the "C" in TGC, is greatly appreciated. We would like to state again that your comment on ways to improve our Cooperative is always welcome.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the willing help of the following people in preparing this Report. Dora Hunt, Harriet Prato, and Martha Rick prepared the covers and helped in many other ways. Mildred Stearns typed the stencils.
Coordinating Committee
C. F. Andrus Charles M. Rick, Chairman
D. W. Barton Department of Vegetable Crops
A. Burdick University of California
W. A. Frazier Davis, California