766 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



into "mature-plant land" and "immature- 

 plant laud." The average yield of the ma- 

 ture-plant land is about 237 pounds per 

 acre ; that of the immature, about 80 

 pounds ; of the whole, 208 pounds per 

 acre. The total production is about 15,- 

 000,000 pounds. 



NOTES, 



Prof. Ch. Fred Hartt, of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, sailed on the 5th inst. on his fifth 

 expedition to Brazil, accompanied by one 

 of bis students, "W. J. C. Brauner. He pro- 

 poses to make a reconnoissance of the gold 

 and diamond region north of Rio de Janeiro, 

 and explore carefully several rich paleon- 

 tological and archseological localities dis- 

 covered on previous expeditions. It is his 

 intention at the same time to review his 

 studies on the Southern Glacial Drift. 



The entomologists of the American As- 

 sociation for the Advancement of Science 

 have formed a special organization, to be 

 known as the "Entomological Club of the 

 American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science," with Dr. John L. Le Conte as 

 President, and C. F. Riley as Secretary. 

 The Club will annually assemble one day in 

 advance of the Association meeting, and 

 hold other meetings during the session of 

 that body. The objects, as stated by the 

 Tribune^ are the exchange and exhibition 

 of specimens, and especially of types of 

 such species as may have been described 

 during the preceding year. 



The largest tree in Ohio stands in the 

 Methodist parsonage-lot, Chillicothe. It is 

 an elm, nearly eight feet in diameter, and 

 110 feet across the branches. Its height is 

 not above 50 feet. The trunk is hollow, 

 and has been so for many years. It is sup- 

 posed to be four or five hundred years old. 



BoRELLY, of Marseilles, on the 2Cth of 

 July, discovered a new comet. Prof Swift, 

 of Rochester, who was the first in this coun- 

 try to observe this comet, describes it (July 

 30th) as being quite large and bright for a 

 telescopic comet. It has a strong central 

 condensation, but no apparent nucleus or 

 tail. It is in the fourth coil of Draco, and 

 moves at the rate of about a degree per day. 



Gold and platinum have been drawn to 

 a "spider-line" for the field of a telescope, 

 by coating the metal with silver, drawing it 

 down to the finest number, and then remov- 

 ing the coating by acid, leaving the almost 

 imperceptible interior wire, which, in an 

 experiment made in London, was so at- 

 tenuated that a mile's length weighed only 

 a grain. 



A CORRESPONDENT of Land and Water 

 gives the following instance of canine sagaci- 

 ty : A canary-bird having escaped from its 

 cage, a cat in the room was seen gazing in- 

 tently at some object under a chair. There 

 lay a favorite terrier, with the canary firmly 

 yet tenderly grasped in its mouth, all the 

 while watching the cat, evidently with the 

 object of keeping the latter at a safe dis- 

 tance from the bird. On being asked for 

 the bird, the terrier instantly gave it up. It 

 had received no injury whatever. How long 

 the dog may have protected the poor little 

 bird is not known, but the circumstance is 

 at all events a notable instance of what is 

 usually described as sagacity, but which may 

 be more justly termed reason in the dog. 



The extraordinary drought of the past 

 summer in Europe had a disastrous effect 

 on the fishes. Kear Asnieres on the Seine, 

 shoals of fish of all sizes lay on the surface 

 of the water as if half dead or stupefied. 

 A somewhat similar state of things appeared 

 in the vicinity of Oxford, where fish of all 

 sorts and sizes were picked up dead in the 

 shallows. In many parts of Ireland the 

 trout in the smaller streams have been nearly 

 destroyed. The trouble at Asnieres and at 

 Oxford was no doubt the result of the poi- 

 soning of the Seine and the Isis by sewage. 



A PIPE is now being laid for the con- 

 veyance of petroleum from the oil-wells of 

 Millerstown, Pa., to the Baltimore & Ohio 

 Railroad, a distance of 40 miles. The pipe 

 is three inches in diameter, and its capacity 

 4,000 barrels per day. 



The Railroad Commissioners of Massa- 

 chusetts have held a hearing on the subject 

 of steam-whistles on railroads, and have 

 recommended that they should be restricted 

 in use to " cases of danger and the neces- 

 sary management of freight-trains." 



At the end of July the amount of 

 money contributed so far to the Agassiz 

 Memorial Fund was §7,800. 



The sum of $1,000 has been deposited 

 with the Franklin Institute by Uriah A. 

 Boyden, of Boston, to be awarded as a 

 premium to " any resident of North Amer- 

 ica who shall determine by experiment 

 whether all rays of light, and other physi- 

 cal rays, are or are not transmitted with 

 the same velocity." The memoirs, which 

 are to describe in detail the apparatus, 

 mode of experimenting, and results, are to 

 be sent in to the secretary of the Institute 

 by January 1, 1875. 



At the Priestley Centennial Meeting, 

 Prof Fraser urged the formation of a Chem- 

 ical Society, to be independent of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, but the project was rejected. Dr. 



