712 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Reid, in his Studies of its features (National 

 Geographic Society, publishers), occupies a 

 depression in the mountain about thirty-five 

 miles long and between six and ten miles 

 wide. It is fed by a great number of tribu- 

 taries, the largest of which are again made 

 up of many smaller glaciers. A total area 

 of about eight hundred square miles is 

 drained by the system, and the actual sur- 

 face of the ice is about three hundred and 

 fifty square miles. The area draining into 

 Muir Inlet is about seven hundred square 

 miles. Most of the precipitation which falls 

 on this area flows off as water in the sub- 

 glacial streams; the rest, compressed into 

 ice, is forced through the narrow gateway 

 two miles and a half wide into the inlet, 

 where the glacier terminates in a vertical 

 wall of ice varying from one hundred and 

 thirty to two hundred and ten feet above the 

 water surface, whence large masses are con- 

 tinually separating to become icebergs. The 

 water is in places seven hundred and twenty 

 feet deep, and, as this is not enough to float 

 a mass of ice rising so high above the water 

 as the glacier, the ice must reach to the very 

 bottom and must attain a thickness of nine 

 hundred feet. The actual length of the ice- 

 front facing the water is nine thousand two 

 hundred feet, or a mile and three quarters. 

 On each side the glacier sends forward a 

 wing, which rises in the shape of a wedge 

 over the stratified sands and gravels of the 

 shore. The wings are fringed by treacher- 

 ous quicksands, which support large stones 

 and look firm ; but the tourist who steps on 

 them carelessly will sink in over his ankles. 

 The ice-front has a wonderful coloring. 

 Places from which ice has recently broken 

 off are deep blue, sometimes almost black. 

 This color lightens under exposure to the 

 air and sun, and in a few days becomes pure 

 white. All shades of blue, in striking vari- 

 ety, are represented in the ice-front. 



The Action of Fungicides. The princi- 

 ple involved in the use of fungicides for plant 

 rusts, according to Prof. Byron D. Halsted, 

 in the Report of the New Jersey Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, consists in the applica- 

 tion to the susceptible plant of a fine spray 

 containing the substance that, when in con- 

 tact with the spores, will either kill them or 

 prevent their development. The whole prac- 



tice of using fungicides depends upon the 

 fact that these mildews, rusts, blights, and 

 other fungous decays produce minute spores, 

 which are easily disseminated and thereby 

 propagate the trouble far and wide. These 

 spores, either as such or when undergoing 

 germination, are easily injured by various 

 chemicals, notably the compounds of copper. 

 It therefore follows that if these fungicides 

 be placed upon the foliage in a thin film, it 

 will go far toward destroying the spores al- 

 ready there and prevent those subsequently 

 falling upon it from germinating. The ways 

 in which this principle is carried out are 

 many, depending upon the nature of the in- 

 fected plant. The progress made during the 

 last ten years in the study of fungous dis- 

 eases is unparalleled. A few workers began 

 collecting and describing some fifty years 

 ago. This was followed a quarter of a cent- 

 ury later by a critical study of the injurious 

 species. The first systematic tests of fungi- 

 cides do not date back more than a decade 

 ago, and since that time, through the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, experiments were begun 

 which have been continued with well-defined 

 practical results. By means of the experi- 

 ment stations a new impetus was given to the 

 subject about three years ago, and to-day 

 there is a well-organized crusade against the 

 fungous enemies of crops. The nature of 

 the several blights, molds, and rots has been 

 studied out in the laboratory, while fungi- 

 cides in large numbers have been tested in 

 the field. The result has been that several 

 of the worst are practically subdued, provid- 

 ed the methods of warfare are followed. 



Shnswap Traits. Among the customs of 

 the Shuswap people of British Columbia re- 

 corded by Mr. George M. Dawson is one 

 from primitive times, by which, in the case 

 of a man dying and leaving behind him a 

 widow or widows, his brother next in senior- 

 ity took the widow to wife. The right of a 

 man to the widow of his deceased brother 

 was considered as incontestable as that to 

 his own wife or wives, and the women had 

 equally a claim to receive from him the duty 

 of a husband. The proper name of a man was 

 changed from time to time during his life, 

 when he would assume the name of some 

 kinsman. Young men on reaching manhood 

 were accustomed to separate themselves and 



