I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 375 



I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



A COVERING OF SNOW AS PROTECTION AGAINST FROST. 



Ebermaver ogives, in his recent work on the influence of 

 the forests, a table of observations showing the temperature 

 of the earth covered by snow during the very cold weather 

 of December, 1871, in Bavaria. The fact has been generally 

 known that snow is the best possible protection against the 

 penetration of frost into the earth, and that it is the natural 

 protection of seeds, young plants,and other vegetation against 

 frost. It is, however, satisfactory to be able to refer to the 

 exact observations made on this subject by Ebermayer; and, 

 as an indication of the extent to which snow does protect 

 the earth, it may be stated, for instance, that on the 8th and 

 12th of December the temperature of the air at Vienna fell 

 to 6.8 Fahr., while the temperature of the earth beneath 

 the snow was no lower than -f-33.8, and four feet below it 

 was 42.8. So long as the snow lies, the variations of tem- 

 perature under the earth's surface are very slight. Zeit- 

 sc.hr If t filr Meteorologie, November, 1873, 282. 



VIENNA CONGRESS OF LAND AND FOREST CULTURISTS. 



Among other features of the International Exposition at 

 Vienna was a Congress of Land and Forest Culturists, repre- 

 sented by delegates from various parts of the world, which 

 had in view, among other objects, the protection of birds 

 useful to the farmer, and the definition of species that might 

 properly come under this category. This subject was brought 

 up by the Swiss minister in Vienna, Von Tschudi, whom we 

 presume to be the well-known naturalist, whose labors upon 

 the fauna of Peru (as published in a large quarto volume) and 

 on the natural history of Switzerland have <nven him a de- 

 servedly great reputation. In the discussion of this paper 

 several persons took part, among them Dr. Alfred Brehni, 

 Mr. Barral, and others. The great importance of birds as the 

 natural protectors of crops was spoken of in the strongest 

 terms, and numerous cases were presented where their agency 

 was decidedly manifest. There was a discussion as to the 



