426 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ment for several months. In the next horse 

 much larger quantities of the serum toxine 

 were used, with the addition of a certain 

 amount of antitoxine, to avoid the risk of 

 constitutionally injuring the animal. The 

 horse was bled on the thirtieth day, and the 

 antitoxic value of its serum tested. It was 

 found that one one- thousandth cubic centime- 

 tre protected completely against ten lethal 

 doses of the toxine ; and finally, after nine 

 weeks' treatment, one twenty-five hundredth 

 cubic centimetre protected against ten lethal 

 doses. 



Japanese Riec. — Rice is the most impor- 

 tant of all Japanese crops; the cultivation 

 takes up moi-e than half of the total surface 

 of arable land. The report of the Chevalier 

 de Warpenarst, Belgian vice-consul at Yoko- 

 hama, is authority for the following details, 

 which we find in the Journal of the Society 

 of Arts. Japan produces two kinds of rice, 

 viz., rice of the lowlands, which is watered 

 by an ingenious system of irrigation, and the 

 rice of the mountains. The latter requires 

 very little water and sun, while it is impossi- 

 ble to have too much for the former. Low- 

 land rice is subdivided into two kinds — 

 ordinary rice and glutinous rice, the latter 

 forming about eight per cent of the annual 

 crop. The ordinary rice is of three vari- 

 eties — early, medium, and late. The total 

 rice crop of 1892 was 41,3*79,000 kolcu, 

 which is equivalent to 205,360,000 bushels. 

 About the end of May the winter crop is 

 gathered in, and some time between the end 

 of September and the end of October the 

 summer crop is ready for harvesting. About 

 34,000,000 koku of the annual production 

 are for home consumption. It is the upper 

 and middle classes who eat rice, the poor 

 being seldom able to obtain it, their food 

 consisting of the leavings of the rich — stale 

 fish and fish entrails, which are cooked all to- 

 gether and sold about the streets on stalls. 

 The farmer himself eats barley, corn, millet, 

 and the sweet potato, but rice only on fete 

 days. Besides the 34,000,000 koku used for 

 food, there are about 500,000 koku used for 

 brewing purposes, and 3,000,000 more in the 

 manufacture of the drink known as sake. 



Science as a Help to Agricnltnre.— Mucli 



was made of the work of the United States 



Department of Agriculture in the discussion 

 in the British Association of the question, 

 " How shall agriculture best obtain the help 

 of science ? " In the course of the discus- 

 sion Prof. Marshall Ward said that it was 

 of extreme importance that the results of 

 any investigations should be made known at 

 once and accurately to the practical man, and 

 this was work that might very well be under- 

 taken by the Government; but he depre- 

 cated any direction or control from a Govern- 

 ment department in any matters of original 

 research. There was at present in existence 

 a large mass of information as to agriculture 

 and forestry which had never yet been made 

 available for the practical man. Criticising 

 some of the methods of agricultural teach- 

 ing as at present carried out, Prof. J. R. 

 Green said that the farmer was apt to regard 

 chemistry as comprising only the chemistry 

 of soils, whereas it was of even greater im- 

 portance to pay attention to the chemistry of 

 plants, and generally to give the plant organ- 

 ism the same attention from various points 

 of view that was now given as a matter of 

 course to the animal organism. Prof. Per- 

 ceval, of Wye College, also emphasized the 

 importance of paying attention to the chem- 

 istry of the plant and not of the soil only. 

 Lectures on scientific agriculture were suc- 

 cessful if the elements only of the science 

 were explained in non-technical language, 

 and the farmers were then taught to make ex- 

 periments for themselves. Mr. M. J. B. Dun- 

 stan thought much of the prejudice against 

 science arose from the mistaken idea that it 

 was meant to replace experience instead of 

 supplementing it. 



Marriage Cnstoms of the Shans. — Mar- 

 riage celebrations among the Shans are 

 rather unpretentious affairs. The ceremony 

 varies from the simple arrangement of tak- 

 ing each other's word for it to feasts last- 

 ing several days among wealthy people; 

 but even in these cases the actual ceremony 

 is a minor feature in the pi'oceedings. The 

 usual form among western Shans is for the 

 couple to eat rice together out of the same 

 dish in the presence of their relatives and 

 the village elders. The bridegroom then 

 declares that he marries the lady and will 

 suppoit her. More ceremony is observed 

 among the Lii. The hands of bride and 



