WATER — SOILS. 817 



Monthly reports of the River and Flood Service for September, October, 

 November, and December, 1897, P. Morrill ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau 

 Docs. 137, pp. 11, chart 1; 144, pp. 11, chart 1 ; 147, pp. 13, chart 1 ; 151, pp. 13, chart 1).— 

 (See also Monthly Weather Review, 25 (1897), Nos. 9, p. 389; 10, p. 434; 11, p. 479; 12, 

 p. 529). 



Forest and rainfall, H. A. Hazen ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau Doc. 140, 

 pp_ 7), — n is claimed in this paper that while forests have "a most important hear- 

 ing upon the conservation of rainfall" their effect upon precipitation "if there he 

 one, is almost inappreciable. . . . From the evidence already accumulated there 

 would he very little to he gained by a further study of the question." 



Instructions to operators on the United States seacoast telegraph lines, J. H. 

 Robinson ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau Doc. 134, pp. 26). — These lines were 

 " built for the benefit and better protection of commerce at large, in conveying infor- 

 mation and warning of approaching storms and summoning aid in cases of marine 

 disaster . . . [and] are, by law, in the charge and control of the Chief of the 

 Weather Bureau, with respect to their maintenance and operation." 



A winter barograph curve from the South Pacific Ocean, R. De C. Ward( U. 8. 

 Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau Doc 149, pp. 6, fig. 1).—A curve obtained with a small- 

 sized Richard Freres barograph during a winter voyage through the Straits of Magel- 

 lan and upon the west coast of South America as far as Corral, Chile (latitude 39° 

 52' S. ; longitude 73° 17' W.). 1 



An improved sunshine recorder, D. T. Making ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau 

 Doc. 148, pp. 15, pi. I, figs. 4). — This is a detailed description, accompanied by figures, 

 reprinted from the Monthly Weather Review, 25 (1897), No. 11, p. 485. 



The probable state of the sky along the path of total eclipse of the sun May 

 28, 1900, F. H. Bigelow ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau Doc. 142, pp. 7, chart 1). 



InstructionsLgoverning the corn, wheat, cotton, sugar, and rice region service, 

 J. Berry ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Weather Bureau Doc. 133, pp. 9). 



WATER— SOILS. 



The rocks and soils of Grenada and Carriacou, J. B. Harrison 

 (London: Waterlow db Sons, Ltd., 1896, pp. 1-30, 57-60). — This is an 

 account of a brief study of the geology, rocks, and soils of these two 

 islands of the Windward group. At present only soils derived from the 

 decomposition of lavas are cultivated. In order to study the changes 

 which have occurred in the course of the disintegration of these lavas 

 and the formation of the soil, bulk analyses were made of the various 

 typical kinds of lavas and of soils which were clearly derived from two 

 of them. 



"In the soils from the hornblende andesites it is seen by this method that a very 

 heavy loss of silica has ensued, an apparent increase of over 30 per cent has taken 

 place in the oxids of iron, and that the state of oxidation of the major part of the 

 iron has been changed from protoxid to peroxid; that nearly two-thirds of the man- 

 ganese oxid, over three-quarters of the lime, one-quarter of the magnesia, eight-ninths 

 of the potash, five-sixths of the soda, and nearly two-thirds of the phosphoric auhydrid 

 have been lost, while the amount of water and organic matters are approximately 

 four times greater than in the rock. The increase in the oxids of iron, which in the 

 part of the soil not dissolved by hydrochloric acid are principally preseut in the form 



1 See also Monthly Weather Review, 25 (1897), No. 11, p. 484. 



