Notes and Comment. 197 



which are colored, lend attractiveness to this new edition and 

 will materially aid the reader in comprehending the nature of 

 the problem and the method of its solution. General readers, 

 teachers and those primarily interested in other fields of science, 

 but who desire to keep in touch with the work being done in 

 genetics, will find Punnett's book a delightful source of infor- 

 mation. — ^Geo, H. Shull. 



Dry Farming. — Briggs and Belz have made a study*of the 

 rainfall and evaporation conditions which prevail in the semi 

 arid portions of the United States in their relation to the practise 

 of dry farming. The region in which this form of agricultural 

 endeavor has been developed is the northern part of the Great 

 Basin and the western edge of the plains, where the annual rain- 

 fall is less than 20 in and more than 10 in. The authors call 

 attention to the importance of the seasonal distribution of the 

 rainfall, to the deceptive appearance of annual totals of rainfall 

 in regions of torrential rains, and to the vital importance of evap- 

 oration in offsetting the apparent value of a given amount of rain. 



In southern Washington dry farming is being successfully 

 conducted in a region with winter rainfall of 10 in. and less, by 

 the method of alternate cropping the summer fallowing. In Utah 

 13 in. of rain is the minimum fall that permits of dry farming 

 methods. In North and South Dakota low yields of wheat are 

 obtained on from 5 to 8 in- of rain, which falls chiefly between 

 April and July. Near San Antonio, Texas, the growing of sor- 

 ghum has been possible with an annual fall of 13 in., a seasonal 

 fall of 8 in., and a doubling of this fall in other years has given 

 seven times as great a yield. 



The total evaporation from April to September, as measured 

 in the tanks of the dry farming stations of the Buieauof Plant In- 

 dustr3^ are from 50 to 60 in. for Nevada, southern Arizona, the 

 panhandle of Texas and southern Kansas, and from 30 to 38 in. 

 for the DakDtas.— F. S. 



NOTES AND C JMMENT. 

 .\ recent l)ulletin of Washingt. n University, in cooperation 

 with tliC Mssouri Botanical Garden, announces twenty-live 



♦ Briggs, L. J. and Be'.z, J. O , Dry Fanning in Relation to Rainfall and Evaporation 

 Bur. Pl.Ind. null. 188. 



