DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL RESEARCH. 75 



will probably appear, and it will ultimately be possible to construct a map 

 showing just what effect the climate of different parts of the country has 

 upon the average efficiency of different races. 



The climatic researches of the years 1910, 191 1, and 1912 have now 

 reached a point where the evidence as to changes during the past 3,000 years 

 needs to be summed up and placed in permanent form. Accordingly a vol- 

 ume entitled "The Climatic Factor" has been written and will be ready for 

 the press as soon as the final tabulation and computation of the statistics of 

 the Big Trees is completed. It deals almost exclusively with the problem of 

 the reality, date, and nature of climatic changes, and their relation to phe- 

 nomena such as earthquakes. The problems of the relation of such changes 

 to man and of the prediction and effect of future changes must be left for 

 another volume. 



EQUIPMENT. 



The experimental tract at Carmel has been enlarged by the purchase of an 

 additional series of lots, and the total area now in possession of the Depart- 

 ment at this place appears to be adequate to the needs of the work to be 

 carried out in connection with the Coastal Laboratory. Additions have been 

 made to the furniture and fittings placed at the disposal of the various 

 workers. The mechanical equipment has been kept to its efficiency by the 

 usual repairs and purchases. 



The laboratory equipment has been increased by the acquisition of a 

 Palmer vacuum-pump run by an electric motor and by several small pumps 

 and clinostats designed and constructed by Mr. Stanley Sykes. A recording 

 rain-gage built to meet the requirements of Dr. Shreve's work on evapora- 

 tion and soil-moisture has been constructed by Casella & Co., of London. 

 Electric ovens and other minor instruments have been bought as needed. 



COOPERATION, FIELD WORK, AND TRAVEL. 



Twenty-two members of the staff, Research Associates, and other persons 

 collaborated under the auspices or by the aid of the Department during the 

 year. 



Professor Peirce's investigations of organisms in condensing brines were 

 carried out in the laboratories of Stanford University ; Professor Brannon's 

 analysis of the action of Salton water on woods at the University of Chi- 

 cago ; Dr. Vinson's analysis of Salton Lake water in the laboratories of the 

 agricultural experiment station of the University of Arizona; Professor 

 Richards's work on the respiration of cacti in the laboratories of Barnard 

 College, Columbia University, and at the Desert Laboratory; Professor 

 Huntington's climatological work has taken him into the field in southern 

 Mexico, into the groves of giant trees in California, to the Coastal Labora- 

 tory at Carmel, and to his own department in Yale University; Professor 

 Lloyd's stomatal and transpiration studies have been carried out at the 

 Coastal Laboratory, the Desert Laboratory, and the Alabama Polytechnic 



