210 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



to the next aud thus make fresh cider available [by simply diluting the sirup 

 with water] as a beverasre during the summer months." 



The method calls for but slight additions to the ordinary equipment of an 

 ice-making or cold-storage plant. A brief description of the manufacture of 

 this concentrated cider on a commercial scale aud the machinery necessary is 

 given. The estimate of the cost per gallon for the preparation of cider con- 

 centrated by freezing— that is, for raw material, freezing, labor, filtering, power, 

 interest, depreciation, superintendence, and other charges — is about 50 cts. per 

 gallon. 



Methods followed in the ccmnierclal canning- of foods, A. W. Bitting ( U. S. 

 Dept. Af/r. Bui. 196 {1915), pp. 19, pis. 3).— A revision of the Bureau of Chem- 

 istry Bulletin 151 noted previously (E. S. R., 27, p. 313). incorporating a sum- 

 mary of results of experiments carried out, especially in the experimental 

 laboratory established at San Francisco in 1912, during the seasons of 1912 

 and 1913. " The general plan of the expei-imental work in canning involved the 

 use of underripe, prime ripe, overripe, and spoiled fruits of all the varieties 

 canned, to determine the appearance and effect upon the finished product. 

 . . . The object throughout all the experiments has been to duplicate factory 

 operations and not to attempt to make mathematical standards." Certain 

 phases of the manufacturing processes have been enlarged upon. 



Microscopical studies on cotton, A. Herzog {Cheni. Ztg., 38 (1914), Nos. 114-^ 

 115, pp. 1089-1091, figs. 3; 116-117, pp. 1097-1100, figs. 6).— The first portion of 

 this work deals exclusively with the dead or unripe cotton fiber. This type 

 of fiber is thin-walled and when woven into cloth has a tendency to show up as 

 knots. Part 2 of the work considers the beard fiber of cotton, and part 3 dis- 

 cusses the determination of the mercerizing capacity of cotton fibers with the 

 microscope. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Popular misconceptions concerning the weather, A. H. Palmes (Pop. Sci. 

 Mo., 86 {1915), No. 2, pp. 12S-141). — ^The author points out, among other things, 

 that, contrary to popular belief, the weather is not Influenced by phases of the 

 moon or the position of the planets ; there is no connection between weather and 

 earthquakes or magnetic disturbances ; forests have much less influence on 

 weather than has been supposed; the climate is not changing; there is no 

 known relation between the weather of one day, season, or year and that of the 

 following day, season, or year; while storms follow pretty well-defined tracks, 

 they have no one starting point ; there is no such thing as Indian summer as 

 popularly understood; animals have no previous knowledge of weather 

 changes; concussions do not cause precipitation; cold waves are not generally 

 produced from the descent of cold air from above, but are "caused primarily by 

 the horizontal transportation of huge masses of cold air from the cold con- 

 tinental interior, and are heightened by the increased radiation from the ground 

 through clear, dry air thus brought in ; " night air is not essentially different 

 from day air; the importance of ozone in the air is popularly overestimated; 

 the so-called equinoctial storm is a fiction ; thunderstorms do not follow valleys ; 

 and lightning may strike many times in the same place. 



Emphasis is laid upon the fact that too much importance is generally at- 

 tached to mean and not enough to extreme con'ditions of the weather. Atten- 

 tion is called to the fact that there is rather widespread misconception as to 

 the sources of rainfall and hail. 



Story of the thermometer and its uses in agriculture, A. H. Thiessen ( U. S. 

 Dept. Agr. Yearhook 1914, pp- 157-166, figs. 4). — This article discusses the his- 



