si 



METEOROLOGY. 615 



No furfurol results when wood or straw is steamed or boiled at atmospheric 

 pressure. When xylose in water was heated in a closed tube at 135 to 140° C. 

 for 8 hours 11.7 per cent of the weight of the pentose was converted into fur- 

 furol. Xylose heated in a closed tube with 10 per cent acetic acid solution and 

 10 per cent formic acid showed a fufurol conversion of 31.32 per cent, and an 

 increase in the temperature for the concentration of the acids resulted in 

 further increasing the amount. 



Chemical utilization of southern pine waste, M. C Whitaker and J. S. 

 Bates {Jour. Indus, and Engin. Chem., 6 (1914), No. 4, pp. 289-29S, figs. 4). — 

 This is an investigation of methods of utilizing southern pine waste (not con- 

 vertible into lumber) with regard to obtaining turpentine, rosin, and pulp In 

 marketable form. 



The possibilities of hardwood distillation on the Pacific coast, R. 0. Palmer 

 {Metallurg. and Chem. Engin., 12 {1914), No. 10, pp. 623-626).— A description 

 of the hardwoods available on the Pacific coast for preparing tanning materials 

 and the manufacture of products of destructive distillation (alcohol, acetate of 

 lime, and charcoal). The cost of building a plant and the marketing of the 

 products are considered. 



Chemistry of the sugar industry, O. Wohryzek {Chemie der Zuckerindustrie. 

 Berlin, Julius Springer, 1914, pp. XVI +676, figs. iS).— This text and handbook 

 is divided into three parts, viz, the chemistry of the beet, the chemistry of raw 

 sugar manufacture, and the chemistry of sugar refining. It contains 159 

 tables and an appendix which deals with pure chemistry, especially with rela- 

 tion to the interpretation of the contents of the book. 



Progress made in the manufacture of beet sugar in 1913, E. O. von 

 Lippmann {Chem. Ztg., S8 {1914), No. 10, pp. 97-100).— A retrospect of the 

 advances made in the agriculture, chemisti'y, and commerce of the beet-sugar 

 industry in 1913. 



METEOROLOGY. 



What the Weather Bureau is doing in agricultural meteorology, P. C. 

 Day {Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome], Mo. Bui. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 6 

 (1915), No. 5, pp. 649-652). — ^After briefly defining "the new science of agri- 

 cultural meteorology " and indicating its importance, this article notes the ways 

 in which the Weather Bureau of the U. S. Department of Agriculture is endeav- 

 oring to develop this field of investigation and what it is now doing to aid the 

 agricultural interests of the country. 



It is stated that although the bureau's chief effort and success lie in the pre- 

 vention of crop loss by timely warnings of adverse weather conditions, it has 

 actively entered, in cooperation with other bureaus of the Department and the 

 state agricultural colleges and experiment stations, into investigations having 

 as their object " the complete correlation of climate and plant growth." Among 

 the lines of work of direct value to the farmer in which the bureau is now 

 engaged are the distribution of frost warnings in fruit growing and trucking 

 regions, measurements of snow in the western mountain States as a basis for pre- 

 dicting the probable water supply for irrigation, distribution of information 

 regarding pasture conditions on the ranges with a view to bringing about a 

 favorable distribution of cattle, warnings of adverse weather conditions in the 

 great corn, wheat, cotton, tobacco, sugar, rice, and truck-growing regions, and 

 studies on the occurrence and distribution of frost in mountain regions, with 

 particular reference to the location of orchards. 



Drought frequency during crop-growing season {U. S. Dept. Agr., Nat. 

 Weather and Crop Bui. 7 {1915), p. 6). — A map is given showing the frequency 

 of droughts (period of 30 consecutive days or more in which the precipitation 



