METEOROLOGY — WATER. 911 



The VMlnation of snffroii may bi* estiuiat«'(l by tb«' aiiKtiint of rediicinf? sugars 

 I)rostMit. 



Composition of white lead and paints, G. S. B"'raps {Texas Sta. liuL ll.'i. 

 Pit. 0-11). — Tbis bulletin di'scribes standai'd pigments and oils and adulterant 

 paint materials. Analytical data of paint materials are also reported. 



"Eleven samples of so-called wblte lead were examined. Four were pure 

 and 7 adulterated or substitutes. Two did not contain any white lead and 3 

 did not contain over 5 per cent. 



" Fourteen samples of mixed paints were examined. Four were pure lead and 

 zinc paints. Six samples contained 10 to 15 per cent carbonate of lime, 3 con- 

 tained 30 to 58 per cent barium suljihate, and 1 contained 15 per cent carbonate 

 of lime and 15 per cent clay. 



"Two of these paints contained benzine as an inferior substitute for tur- 

 pentine; some ajtpeared to contain liu.seed oil adulterated with resin oil, and 1 

 (•MMtain<'(l linseed oil adulterated with a mineral oil." 



Report of State chemist, H. (J. Knight (Ann. Rpt. Dahi/, Food and Oil 

 Vontr. \\'i/o., Jf {li)08), pp. 36-8')). — During the fiscal year ending October 1, 

 1!H)S, 651 samples of food, drugs, drinks, and illuminating oils were collected 

 and examinetl. Of these 5.32 w'ere passed and 119 declared adulterated or 

 misbranded. 



Extracts from the proceeding's of the Association of OflB.cial Agricultural 

 Chemists, 1908 (U. .S'. Dept. Agr., Bur. Vhem. Circ. J/S, pp. 16). — This contains 

 the re]M>rts of the committees on recommendations of referees, with the action 

 taken by the association in each case, together with resolutions adopted and a 

 list of the officers, referees, and connnittees for the year 1909. 



METEOROLOGY— WATER. 



Relation of weather conditions to growth and development of cotton, 

 J. r.. Mahbury (Cotton, 73 (190S), Xo. 2, pp. 51-53, figs. 5; 73 (190'.)), So. 3, pp. 

 SS-HO. fij/s. 3). — It is stated that "cotton, though a sensitive plant, is of all 

 sunnner-growing crops of the South about the least affected by ordinary changes 

 in the weather. Its long period of growth, fruiting, and maturity affords it 

 anijile opportunity to recover from a number of temporary setbacks. During 

 the protracted season from planting in April to the completion of its harvest in 

 November it is exposetl to manj' varieties of weather, and it seems to endure 

 the bad as well as enjoy the good. Such a thing as ' half a crop ' is unknown. 

 Statistics show that the crop is seldom curtailed by more than one-fourth or 

 one-third." 



The relation between rainfall and temperature and the growth of cotton at 

 ilifferent jK'riods is explained in diagrams and in the text, liainfall seems to 

 bt? th(! stronger influence in the development of the cotton plant. " Well distril)- 

 uted showers during the spring months serve to keep the soil in a condition well 

 suited for the best development of the young plant and to cause the roots to sink 

 deep into the earth, thus enabling the plant to maintain itself against the dry 

 periods of the following sunnner. A very wet spring causes the development of 

 a large number of the surface roots to the sacrifice of those roots which nat- 

 urally tend downward, and the droughty conditions which prevail freipiently 

 during the summer soon cause the plant to wilt and shed its foliage and fruit, 

 since the dry surface soil does not furnish suthcient nourishment for its 

 gmwtli." Sunsliin(» is also an important factor. The author states that "the 

 normal conditions (tf tenii>erature and rainf.-ill tliroughout the cottcm belt are, 

 as a rule, most favorable f<n* the proiicr development of this delicate plant. 

 Ajiril and May, with less than 4 in. of rain each, cause the tap root to sink deep 



