382 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



dissolving twelve parts of saltpetre in twenty-four parts of 

 hot water, and mixing well with thirty parts of sawdust and 

 seven parts of coal-tar, and drying in the air. This powder 

 may then be made up with starch-paste (ten parts of starch 

 to ninety parts of water) into a mass that can be formed into 

 rods about four tenths of an inch thick and one inch long, 

 which should be well dried, and sprinkled with melted sulphur. 

 The mixing of the powder and making up of the mass with 

 starch-paste is readily accomplished in a petroleum barrel, 

 containing ten to twelve one-pound iron balls, and capable 

 of being rotated on an axis passing through it lengthwise. 

 The rods may be formed most rapidly by pressing the mass 

 in sheet-iron moulds having a number of compartments of the 

 proper size. Several thousand, it is said, can be made by a 

 practiced hand in an hour. After drying, they should be 

 spread out, and by means of a broom sprinkled with fused 

 sulphur. 5 (7, XXXII., 255. 



MEANS FOE DESTROYING THE SIBERIAN MARMOT. 



Among the smaller animals most injurious to vegetation in 

 Siberia is a small marmot known as the soulish {SjJermojyhi- 

 Itis citillus)^ closely allied to the species so common in Min- 

 nesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, in the West, called there gopher, 

 thirteen-lined squirrel, prairie squirrel, etc. In the depart- 

 ment of Jekaterinoslaw the}^ have lately become so abundant 

 as to constitute a positive pest, and an order has been issued 

 requiring each inhabitant to furnish a certain number of 

 heads under penalty of a fine. In 1873, in five counties alone 

 rewards were paid for the destruction of nearly six millions 

 of these animals. By energetic measures of this kind alone 

 has it been possible to prevent the almost total destruction 

 of the crops. 3 (7, XXXXl., 724. 



THE FODDER VALUE OF APPLES. 



In his investigation of the fodder value of apples. Professor 

 Storer confirms the observations of other chemists, to the ef- 

 fect that apples are very poor in nitrogen. The flesh of 

 Baldwins and Russets yielded 15.7 to 17.5 per cent, of dry or- 

 ganic matter (the rest being water and mineral matters), and 

 only 0.21 to 0,27 per cent, of albuminoids. Apple pomace con- 

 tained 22.3 per cent, of dry organic matter, and 0.98 per cent. 



