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animals thus afflicted, or by drinking their milk. The author concludes 

 by saying that it is eminently right and proper that legal and otlierpre- 

 cantions be taken against the propagation of the disease in living ani- 

 mals, bnt that these measures should always be subordinated to the 

 general principles which have now been fairly established. 



Action of potash on fruit tkees. — Dr. George B. Wood, in a 

 late communication to the American Philosophical Society, in Philar 

 delphia, presented the result of certain exi)eriments made by him upon 

 the effect of salts of potassa when applied to grain and fruit-producing 

 soils. In his view^, the depreciation of the productiveness of apple, 

 peach, and quince orchards is due to the exhaustion of potash from the 

 soil. Several of such orchards, formerly very valuable, but which had 

 within a few years ceased to bear much fruit, on being treated with 

 an application "of wood ashes to the roots of the trees, became completely 

 revived, producing full crops the following year. A still more striking 

 effect was seen the second year, under a renewal of the application. 

 He cited several other instances where the same results followed; in one 

 case where an apple orchard, planted on an old orchard's site, which 

 had never borne fruit, was made to produce a good crop by the applica- 

 tion of ashes. 



Killing babbits by sulphur. — It is well known that the European 

 rabbit has been introduced into Australia, and by its enormously rapid 

 multiplication bids fair to become a veritable pest to the country. Many 

 remedies have been proposed for their extermination, among which the 

 burning of sulphur in their burrows has been strongly recommended. 

 An article by a Mr. Archer, on this subject, however, recounts the 

 numerous experiments made for the purpose of their destruction by 

 sulphur, and ends with the statement that this method is not at all 

 satisfactory, and that carbonic acid would probably be more efldcient. 



Destruction of grain by insects. — Some idea of the injury 

 caused by insects to agricultural products may be formed from the state- 

 ment that, from 74 tons of Spanish wheat stored in a granary, 10 

 hundred- weight of beetles were screened out in one instance, and in 

 another 35 hundred-weight were removed from 145 tons of American 

 corn. The ofteuder in both cases was a weevil, known as Colandra 

 oriaw. 



Baobab bark as a new fiber. — It is well known that great efforts 

 are being made all over the world to increase the supply of material for 

 the manufacture of paper and textile fabrics, by calling into play sub- 

 stances previously unthought of in this connection. Among the later 

 additions to the series may be mentioned the fibrous bark of the 

 Baobab tree, {Adansonia digitata.) This is said to be worth in England 

 from $70 to $75 per ton. It furnishes, also, an almost indestructible 

 cordage. 



Coloring for butter. — According to the Moniteur Scientifique, a 

 coloring matter much superior to the annatto for coloring butter may 

 be prepared from carrots. For this purpose the roots are to be cut in 

 slices and dried, and afterwards ground to powder, and subjected to the 

 action of snli)hide of carbon. An extract can be obtained in this way 

 which, rapidly crystallized, furnishes pure carotine ; an insipid, inodor- 

 ous substance, resembling alizarine in api^earance. 



New Zealand flax. — Among the substances used in the arts as 

 fibers, the Kew Zealand flax at one time x^romised to be of great promi- 



