688 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOED. 



How to build a stave silo, B. H. Ravvl aud J. A. Conover ( U. S. Dcpt. Agr., 

 Bur. Anim. Indus. Circ. 136, pp. 18, flgs. 18). — This gives complete directions 

 for the construction of stave silos and their foundations and contains sug- 

 gestions for determining the proper size. 



[A new pea and bean thresher], F. C. Quereau {Tennessee Sta. Bui. 79, 

 pp. 26-28, fig. 1). — A detailed description is given of an implement which this 

 station has tested for 2 years with very satisfactory results. It resembles 

 the oi"dinary grain separator in general make-up but the distinctive differences 

 are large knife-edged cylinder teeth and notched sharp-edged concave teeth. 



It is stated that in the tests, which included 200 bushels of cowpeas and 

 soy beans, representing 8 varieties of the former and 2 of the latter, and with 

 the vines in all degrees of toughness and stages of curing, a surprisingly high 

 percentage of separation resulted. 



Electricity and agriculture, W. H. P. Cherry (Agr. Gaz. N. 8. Wales, 19 

 (1908), No. 11, pp. 869-S90, figs. 22). — This is a popular account of the manu- 

 facture of atmospheric nitrates, calcium cyanamid, the Thwaite and other 

 methods of electroculture, radioculture, experiments in electroculture by Lem- 

 strom. Sir Oliver Lodge, by this Department, the Hawkesbury Agricultural Col- 

 lege, and also in South Australia. The possibility of establishing nitrogen-fixing 

 industries in Australia is discussed as well as the application of the electricity 

 as power in household and farm work. A portable farm telephone is described. 



RURAL ECONOMICS. 



The agricultural and transportation industries, E. Lambert {U Industrie 

 AgrieoJe et Vlndustrie des Transports. Paris, 1908, pp. S^Jf). — This book is 

 divided into three parts dealing, respectively, with (1) the plant and the 

 ^oil, (2) fertilizers, and (3) the relation between agriculture aud transporta- 

 tion. It is pointed out in a prefatory chapter that agriculture has developed 

 more slowly than other industries, but that it has greater futui*e possibilities 

 and will undoubtedly outstrip them. A special plea is made for the more com- 

 plete industrialization of agricultui'e, and to this end the general adoption of 

 more scientific methods and improved transportation facilities to promptly de- 

 liver supplies and move crops are -considered essential. The great advantage 

 to agriculture of increased and improved water transportation is particularly 

 emphasized. 



The book therefore deals with scientific methods of increasing and main- 

 taining the fertility of soils and with improved methods and means of 

 transportation. 



The position of agriculture from the economic point of view, Vibrans 

 (Ztsehr. Landw. Kammer Braunschweig, 77 (1908), No. 31, pp. 36-^-367).— The 

 author discusses the food values of agricultural products with a view of 

 inducing interest by the government in a more rational system of taxation. It 

 is believed that the government should encourage the branches of agriculture 

 producing the necessaries rather than the luxuries of life. The author favors 

 the higher taxation of beer and tobacco, the prohibition of or increased duty on 

 the transportation of potash, the reduction of taxation on sugar, and the en- 

 couragement of the production of staple crops, the ultimate aim being to make 

 Germany a self-supporting nation. 



Note on agriculture in Japan, F. A. Nicholson (Madras: Govt., 1907, pp. 

 VI +122, pis. 2, fig. 1). — The area of Japan is given as about 94,000,000 acres, 

 of which only 12,778,124 acres, or 13.53 per cent, was under cultivation in 1905. 

 The population was 47,812,702, and as Japan is practically a self-sustaining 

 people, the whole nation secures its subsistence and other necessaries on an 



