soils. 447 



stations, so distributed as to show the general conditions obtaining over the country 

 generally east of the Mississippi Valley" are compiled and discussed. The places 

 for which data are given are Fort Snelling, Minn. ; Fort Leavenworth, Kans. ; New 

 Orleans, La.; Chicago, 111.; Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; New Bedford, Mass.; 

 Washington, D. C. ; and Charleston, S. C. ; and the period covered runs back to 

 1854. "From a study of the departures given during the last past 50 years it will be 

 seen that the contention that the winters of recent years are less rigorous than those 

 of former years, at least so far as temperature is concerned, is not well founded." 



Climate of Missouri (The State of Missouri. Columbia: Missouri Commission to 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904, pp. 59-62, figs. 8). — The more important climatic 

 characteristics of the State are shown on maps and briefly discussed. 



Rainfall in the agricultural districts, E. L. Fowles (Queensland Agr. Jour., 15 

 (1904), No. 1, p. 517). — A table shows the total rainfall for each month from May, 

 1903, to May, 1904, inclusive, in the agricultural districts of Queensland. 



Weather forecasts from the humming of wires, R. DeC. Ward (Science, n. 

 ser., 20 (1904), No. 512, p. 540). — A brief reference to a report of a study by F. Bock 

 given in the August number of Das Wetter, in which certain rules for forecasting 

 weather conditions based on observations on the humming of telegraph and telephone 

 wires are laid down. 



Fertility and frost, U. P. Hedrick (Michigan Farmer, 46 (1904), No. 20, p. 358). — 

 Observations are recorded which go to show " that vegetation on a well- fertilized soil 

 is better able to withstand frost than is that on a poor soil." 



Destructive floods in the United States in 1903, E. C. Murphy ( U. S. Geol. 

 Survey, Water Supply and Irrig. Paper No. 96, pp. 81, pis. 13, figs. 2). 



SOILS. 



Geology of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, W. N. Logan (Bid. Mississippi Agr. 

 and Mech. College, 1 (1904), No. 2, pp. 67, figs. 12, map 1). — This survey, which was 

 conducted under the auspices of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Missis- 

 sippi, includes studies of geography, hydrography, topography, physiography, arche- 

 ology, and geology, with detailed discussions of the characteristic formations and 

 economic deposits (sand, brick material, cement material, road metal, and phosphatic 

 marl), and special articles on soils by W. L. Hutchinson, W. R. Perkins, and H. S. 

 Chilton, forage plants and grasses by G. W. Herrick, and forestry and trucking lands 

 by A. B. McKay. The chapter on soils describes the characteristic types, with 

 physical and chemical analyses, and discusses their fertilizer requirements. 



The relation of smelter smoke to TTtah agriculture, J. A. Widtsoe ( Utah Sta. 

 Bui. 88, pp. 147-179). — This bulletin records the results of a careful and detailed 

 study of the nature and extent of damage done to trees, orchards, crops, live stock, 

 and soils by the smoke from copper smelters in or near the towns of Murray and 

 Bingham Junction, some 5 to 7 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as of the 

 substances emitted by the smelters. The most noteworthy substance found in the 

 smelter smoke was sulphur dioxid, which varied from 59 to 93 parts per 10,000 of 

 air, according to the distance from the smelter (1} to \ mile). 



"The amount of solid particles carried by the air which had passed over the 

 smelter chimneys was so small that it could not be investigated by any ordinary 

 methods of analysis. To collect large quantities of the flue dust, special dust col- 

 lectors were contrived and set up in various places near the smelters . . . Chemical 

 examination showed these dust samples to contain a large quantity of iron, some 

 copper, and traces of arsenic. In addition were numerous particles of soil dust. 

 That this dust really came from the smelters was proved by the large quantity of 

 magnetic particles found in the samples." 



Summarizing the results, it is stated that "when the wind causes the smoke to 



