1899] SCHARFF'S EUROPEAN FAUNA 359 



be regarded as a member of the Iguanidae (p. 193). Neither are we aware 

 what animal is meant by the "Siberian Red Deer" (p. 2-19); but then (p. 

 248) the author does not appear to be aware of the essential distinction 

 between a Red Deer and a Wapiti ! 



Should a second edition of what is in many respects a very interesting work 

 be called for, we venture to hope that the author will modify some of his con- 

 clusions in regard to migration and former land connections, which appear to 

 us to set probability at defiance. 



AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS IN AMERICA 



Year-Book of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1898. 8vo, 

 pp. 76S. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899. 



" The American Agricultural Year-Book " for the past year fully maintains 

 the high reputation which the Department has justly earned by previous 

 volumes of this publication. It is divided into three parts — (1) The Report of 

 the Secretary of Agriculture to the President ; (2) Miscellaneous Papers by 

 chiefs of bureaus, divisions, and officers of the Department, or their assistants ; 

 and (3) An Appendix consisting of a summary of useful information. Five 

 hundred thousand copies are annually printed and distributed, and so great is 

 the demand that the Secretary recommends the increase of the current year's 

 issue by 20,000 copies. Secretary James Wilson, or, as he would be designated 

 in this country, Minister for Agriculture, is a native of Ayrshire, and springs 

 from the same stock as the late Dr. M'Cosh of Princeton University. He 

 left Scotland at the age of sixteen, and has, through his sterling worth and 

 devotion to the best interests of agriculture, raised himself to the high position 

 which he fills with much credit alike to himself and to the State. The Depart- 

 ment is divided into over twenty distinct sections, each being worked by a 

 staff of well-trained specialists. The Secretary's report refers to the leading 

 results of the year's investigations, but we can mention only a few of the 

 more important of these. We are told that the Department is searching the 

 world for seeds and plants to diversify the crops of the country, and to add 

 new varieties to meet sectional requirements. Four scientific explorers are 

 abroad getting seeds and plants from Russia, around the Mediterranean, China, 

 and South America. Of grasses, no less than 500 varieties are grown for 

 educational purposes in the gardens of the Department. The Bureau of 

 Animal Industry has discovered a substance which by means of one dipping- 

 will destroy all ticks infesting an animal, so that at last a remedy has been 

 found to prevent the spread of Texas fever among cattle. Inoculation with 

 antitoxin serum for the prevention of hog cholera has for two successive years 

 saved 80 per cent of the animals treated, while as many as 80 per cent of the 

 check herds not treated died. Important additions have been made to the 

 Department library, which now contains nearly 65,000 volumes, and forms one 

 of the largest collections of books on agricultural topics in the world. "Nature- 

 teaching" in the common schools is receiving the special attention of the 

 Department, as well as the great prerequisite, the education of the teacher. 

 This is the natural development following the experience of what it is possible 

 to do in agricultural colleges to meet the requirements of the country. In this 

 connection America is immeasurably ahead of this country, where educational 

 authorities have practically discarded the country schoolmaster as a teacher of 

 agriculture, and are wastefully spending public money in duplicating agri- 

 cultural colleges which are already far in excess of the requirements of the 

 country, and are in the aggregate more than half empty. 



The Weather Bureau is a most important and well-equipped section of the 

 Department, So numerous are the Observation stations in all directions that 

 forecasts not only of wind and rain, but of freezing weather, are made with such 



