METEOROLOGY — WATER. 817 



Meteorological investigations on the summer floods of the Oder, G. Hell- 

 MANN and G. v. Elsner ( Veroffenil. K. Preuss. Met. Imt., 1911, No. 230, jyp. 

 XI-\-235, pis. 55; rev. in Naturw. Rundschau, 26 (1911), No. 48, pp. 609-611; 

 Met. Ztschr., 29 (1912), No. 1, pp. 10-18) .—The essential feature of this report 

 is a series of charts correlating atmospheric pressure, temperature, precipita- 

 tion, and summer floods in the Oder drainage basin. These show, as was to be 

 expected, that the precipitation is the controlling factor in these floods, but 

 it was found that there is not complete parallelism between precipitation and 

 high water. Atmospheric pressure is shown to be an important factor in 

 determining the flood conditions. No attempt is made, however, to draw 

 general conclusions as to the agencies which cause and control the floods. 



Surface water supply of California, 1909, "W. B. Clapp and F. F. Henshaw 

 (U. 8. Gcol. Survey, Water-Supply Paper 211, pp. 256, pis. 6, fig. J).— This is 

 one of the series of papers reporting results of stream flow measurements in the 

 United States. It gives in detail the results of measurements in the Lower 

 Colorado River, Great Basin, South Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Bay, and 

 North Pacific Ocean drainage basins. 



Water resources of Antelope Valley, California, H. R. Johnson (U. 8. 

 Geo/. Sun-ry, Water-Supply Paper 278, pp. 92, pis. 7, figs. 11). — This paper 

 describes this valley, which lies in the southwestern part of the Mohave Desert, 

 and reports the results of measurements of its surface and underground waters. 



The underground waters of the Oasis of Kharga, H. J. L. Beadnell (Cairo 

 Sci. Jour., 5 (1911), No. 52, pp. 1-8). — This is a reply to a discussion and criti- 

 cisms by G. W. Grabham (E. S. R., 24, p. 216) of the author's explanation of 

 phenomena of the flowing wells of the Oasis of Kharga. 



The waters of Kharga, G. W. Grabham (Cairo Sci. Jour., 5 (1911), No. 61, 

 pp. 2/(6-261, figs. 8). — This is a reply to Beadnell's paper noted above. 



The nonnitrification of sewage in sea water, J. E. Purvis, A. C. N. Mc- 

 Hattie, and R. H. J. Fisher (Jour. Roy. Sanit. Inst., 32 (1911), No. 9, pp. 

 U2-U8; ahs. in Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc., 16 (1911), No. 4, p. 39i ) .—Investi- 

 gations are reported which showed that even when special precautions were 

 taken to secure an abimdant supply of oxygen in the culture solution there 

 was no nitrification of sewage when mixed with sea water. 



The Berlin sewage farms, H. A. Roechling (Surveyor, 40 (1911), Nos. 

 1035, pp. 577, 583-587; 1036, pp. 617, 6iS).— This article, based upon the report 

 on these farms for the year ended March 31, 1910, describes the management 

 of the farms and the results which have been obtained through a series of years. 



The farms cover an area of 43,000 acres and successfully dispose of 64,000.000 

 gal., or 30 gal. per capita, of sewage in 24 hours. The farms are utilized for 

 the production of various crops, live stock, and fish. During the last 26 years 

 there have been only 5 years in which there was a financial deficit, the balance 

 of profit for the whole period being $884,000. Among the more important 

 crops grown are rye, wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, beets, carrots, and 

 rye grass besides various fruits and vegetables. A considerable number of 

 beef cattle, pigs, and sheep are raised, and dairying furnishes one of the chief 

 sources of revenue. An aggregate area of 48 acres is in fishponds filled with 

 effluent from the land, yielding an average profit of $16 per acre in fish products. 



Frequent examinations of the effluent from these farms showed that the 

 purification was satisfactory although the sewage was applied to the land at 

 the rate of about 1 acre per 100 persons. Of 95 wells on the farms only 7 were 

 found to contain Bacillus coli. 



Systematic experimental work is carried on on the farms in the study espe- 

 cially of the adaptability of various plants to sewage irrigation, the quality of 

 crops grown with sewage and their improvement, the water supply and the 



