1899] SCHARFF’S EUROPEAN FAUNA 359 
be regarded as a member of the Iguanidae (p. 193). Neither are we aware 
what animal is meant by the “Siberian Red Deer” (p. 249); but then (p. 
248) the author does not appear to be aware of the essential distinction 
between a Red Deer and a Wapiti ! 
Should a second edition of what is in many respects a very interesting work 
be called for, we venture to hope that the author will modify some of his con- 
clusions in regard to migration and former land connections, which appear to 
us to set probability at defiance. 
AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS IN AMERICA 
Year-Book of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1898. 8vo, 
pp- 768. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899. 
“The American Agricultural Year-Book” for the past year fully maintains 
the high reputation which the Department has justly earned by previous 
volumes of this publication. It is divided into three parts—(1) The Report of 
the Secretary of Agriculture to the President ; (2) Miscellaneous Papers by 
chiefs of bureaus, divisions, and officers of the Department, or their assistants ; 
and (3) An Appendix consisting of a summary of useful information. Five 
hundred thousand copies are annually printed and distributed, and so great is 
the demand that the Secretary recommends the increase of the current year’s 
issue by 20,000 copies. Secretary James Wilson, or, as he would be designated 
in this country, Minister for Agriculture, is a native of Ayrshire, and springs 
from the same stock as the late Dr. M‘Cosh of Princeton University. He 
left Scotland at the age of sixteen, and has, through his sterling worth and 
devotion to the best interests of agriculture, raised himself to the high position 
which he fills with much credit alike to himself and to the State. The Depart- 
ment is divided into over twenty distinct sections, each being worked by a 
staff of well-trained specialists. The Secretary’s report refers to the leading 
results of the year’s investigations, but we can mention only a few of the 
more important of these. We are told that the Department is searching the 
world for seeds and plants to diversify the crops of the country, and to add 
new varieties to meet sectional requirements. Four scientific explorers are 
abroad getting seeds and plants from Russia, around the Mediterranean, China, 
and South America. Of grasses, no less than 500 varieties are grown for 
educational purposes in the gardens of the Department. The Bureau of 
Animal Industry has discovered a substance which by means of one dipping 
will destroy all ticks infesting an animal, so that at last a remedy has been 
found to prevent the spread of Texas fever among cattle. Inoculation with 
antitoxin serum for the prevention of hog cholera has for two successive years 
saved 80 per cent of the animals treated, while as many as 80 per cent of the 
check herds not treated died. Important additions have been made to the 
Department library, which now contains nearly 65,000 volumes, and forms one 
of the largest collections of books on agricultural topics in the world. ‘‘ Nature- 
teaching” in the common schools is receiving the special attention of the 
Department, as well as the great prerequisite, the education of the teacher. 
This is the natural development following the experience of what it is possible 
to do in agricultural colleges to meet the requirements of the country. In this 
connection America is immeasurably ahead of this country, where educational 
authorities have practically discarded the country schoolmaster as a teacher of 
agriculture, and are wastefully spending public money in duplicating agri- 
cultural colleges which are already far in excess of the requirements of the 
country, and are in the aggregate more than half empty. 
The Weather Bureau is a most important and well-equipped section of the 
Department. So numerous are the Observation stations in all directions that 
forecasts not only of wind and rain, but of freezing weather, are made with such 
