96 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[March, 



appear, with careful suggestions as to how these 

 may be made to aid English interests. This 

 report is especially rich in information about the 

 various kinds of India rubbers and gums of that 

 class. 



Bulletin of the United States Geological 

 AND Geographical Survey of the Territories. 

 — Vol. vi. No. 1 and No. 2 of Hayden's reports 

 has just been issued by the Department of the 

 Interior. No. 2, contains the Birds of Nevada, 

 North American Moths by Grote, and much very 

 interesting paleontological matter. No. 1, has 

 the account of the Rocky Mountain Flora by 

 Gray and Hooker. 



Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer 

 OF THE Army to the Secretary of War. — As we 

 recently noted, among the silliest of questions is 

 that raised by some of the leading newspapers, 

 Of what use are expeditions to the North Pole? 

 No one knows of what use to humanity any new 

 fact may be. One cannot go into any unknown 

 region, or enter any unknown field of research 

 without stumbling on some new fact. What use 

 we make of this new fact we cannot tell till we 

 get it. As regards Arctic research the probabilities 

 in favor of useful facts are greater than we might 

 expect from any other part of the world. Our 

 climate depends wholly on these Arctic wastes. 

 Did they not exist, the Northern United States 

 might be but a desert waste. The heated mois- 

 ture of the tropics is forced to rise by the pressure 

 of the heavier cold waves from the Arctics, and 

 the condensation of the moisture by the meeting 

 of the warm and cold currents gives us our rains 

 and snows. It is of immense importance, espe- 

 cially to us as cultivators to know ail about the 

 weather. We all know how great has been the 

 advantage to us of even the daily prognostica- 

 tions; how much more should we be benefited 

 if we could see for a week or a month ahead. 

 We do know now the main principles of climate, 

 and the great relation which these ice fields 

 bear to it. There is nothing improbable in that 

 when we shall know more of them in detail we 

 shall be able to get this exact knowledge. Even 

 this present season, with its mild winter so far, 

 was clearly foreseen when earlier it came to our 

 knowledge from some of the Arctic expeditions, 

 that the great ice fields had pressed much further 

 westerly than usual. The natural consequence 

 of this must be that the warmer atmosphere of 

 the Gulf Stream would also press further west 

 than usual, following the retreat of the ice, and 

 necessarily modify the usual severity of winter. 



It is just in this direction that we have to collect 

 the exact facts on which to build a true science 

 in meteorology. 



The signal officer well sets forth in this report 

 the value of this Arctic knowledge. He says : 



'•The study of the weather in Europe and 

 America cannot be successfully prosecuted with- 

 out a daily map of the whole northern hemis- 

 phere, and the great blank space of the Arctic 

 region upon our simultaneous international chart 

 has long been a subject of regret to meteorolo- 

 gists. I was, therefore, pleased to have an oppor- 

 tunity, with your permission, to carry out the 

 promises of my predecessor, and to co-operate 

 with the International Committee on Polar Re- 

 search, which has during the past two years 

 organized a system of stations in both the Arctic 

 and Antarctic regions. 



"These stations will conduct simultaneous 

 hourly or bihourly observations in meteorology, 

 magnetism, and tides, and special observations 

 on gravity, auroras, earth currents, earthquakes, 

 &c. The general object is to accomplish by 

 observations made in concert at numerous sta- 

 tions, such additions to our knowledge as cannot 

 be acquired by isolated or desultory traveling 

 parties. No special attempt will be made_ at 

 geographical exploration, and neither expedition 

 is in any sense an attempt to reach the North 

 Pole. The single object kept in view is to eluci- 

 date the phenomena of the weather and the 

 magnetic needle, as they occur in America and 

 Europe, by means of observations taken in the 

 region where the most remarkable disturbances 

 seem to have their origin." 



Horticulture of Boston and Vicinity. — By 

 Colonel Marshall P. Wilder. It is surprising 

 what a wonderful amount of work Colonel Wil- 

 der has done for one of his years. The writer of 

 this was talking of Colonel Wilder with the 

 venerable General Patterson a short time before 

 his death, and happened to say he was about en- 

 tering his eighty-third year. ''Oh! nonsense," re- 

 marked the General, "tell him he is but a boy 

 compared with me." One might surely think 

 Mr. Wilder was nearer the boy than the patriarch 

 judging by the work which he does. Here before 

 us is a pamphlet of eighty-eight pages, giving a 

 history of Horticulture about Boston and vicinity 

 from its first settlement to the present time, and 

 which must have cost a great amount of research 

 to say nothing of mental labor. Governor Endicott 

 bought 250 acres of land for 500 apples trees in 

 164S. The first colonists under Governor Win- 

 throp had fruit-seeds of all kinds, as part of their 

 cargo. This is among the first facts dwelt on by 

 Mr. Wilder, and he goes on through all the 

 records that can be obtained to the present day. 

 All the public spirited citizens o^ Boston, and not 

 merely those devoted to horticulture, should be 

 proud of this work. It makes a valuable chapter 

 in Boston's local history, one that will be the more 

 valuable with every year that rolls over it ; and 

 the city may well be as proud of this one of its 

 merchant princes, as horticulturists everywhere 

 are to have him in their ranks. 



