SOILS- — FERTILIZERS. 213 



Meteorological report for the year ended March. 31, 1907 (Rhodesian Agr. 

 Jour., // (I'JIJT), No. 6, pp. 6().i-60S). — This report gives the observations made 

 duriug the year by 9 barometric, 9 thermometric, and 32 rainfall stations in 

 Rhodesia. 



Map-studies of rainfall, H. R. Mill {Quart. Jour. Roy. Met, Soc. [London], 

 SIf (1908), No. 1J,6, pp. 65-86, pi. 1, figs. 10; abs. in Nature [London], 77 (1908), 

 No. 1995, p. 286). — :The object of this paper is to explain briefly how rainfall 

 maps may be nsed in the study of the normal annual rainfall of the British 

 Isles in relation to the general configuration of the land, and of the relation of 

 the rainfall of individual years, months, and even showers to the normal. The 

 practical applications of the results of such studies are also indicated. 



In this connection emi)hasis is laid upon the vast national importance of ac- 

 curate knowledge of the rainfall as related to the flow of streams and the rapidly 

 increasing diversion of the water of streams for irrigation and industrial pur- 

 poses. 



It is stated that " the increasing strenuousness of the struggle for the posses- 

 sion of large water supplies is producing in England, and especially in Wales, a 

 great amount of local jealousy and strife, for the boundaries of parishes and 

 counties coincides but rarely with water-partings, and the argument has been 

 brought forward again and again that the rainfall of one county should not be 

 diverted for the use of the inhabitants of another. The feeling is intensified 

 when the boundary to be crossed is that of a historical division of national impdr- 

 tance, like the boundary between England and Wales, but the map study of rain- 

 fall can do something to suggest the lines on which such disputes should be 

 settled. . . . 



" Care for the water supply of the country, coming as it does from the air that 

 kuows no bounds across the land, is by no means a parochial, but in the fullest 

 sense a national matter, and should be dealt with in the interests of the nation 

 as a whole, the units of subdivision, when such are required, being the natural 

 units of river basins." 



Hygienic water supplies for farms, B. M. Bolton (V. S. Dept. Agr. Year- 

 hook 1907, pp\ .i99-.'i08, pi. 1, fl'gs. //). — This article discusses the importance 

 and requiremeuts of a sanitary water supply, sources of water supply, sources 

 of pollution, purification of water in the soil, protection from pollution, abun- 

 dance of supply, and convenience. It is stated in conclusion " that it is not 

 usually a difficult matter to comply with all the requirements of a sanitary 

 water supply on the farm. It requires only ordinary intelligence in selection 

 of the site and subsequent management, besides a certain expenditure of time 

 aud money necessary for the construction of devices for protection and 

 convenience." 



SOILS— FERTILIZERS. 



Relations between climate and terrestrial deposits, J. Barbell (Jour. Geol., 

 16 (1908), Nos. 2, pp. 159-190; 3, pp. 255-295; //, pp. 363-384) .—This is a series 

 of " studies for students," and consists of a general introduction aud chapters 

 on (1) relations of sediments to regions of erosion, (2) relation of sediments to 

 regions of deposition, aud (3) relations of climate to stream transportation. 



The term terrestrial deposits as used in this article is confined to fluvial 

 and pluvial deposits rather than glacial, lacustrin, and eolian deposits. 



The specific topics dealt with are character of rocks supplying sediment; 

 relations of rainfall, temperature, and topography to erosion ; separation of 

 topographic and climatic factors and of tectonic and climatic oscillations; 

 influence of nature of surface of deposition; climatic influences in regions of 



