27 



tribes to perish with hunger and cohl. The consequences of this 

 scarcity, according to the writer, were very soon ninnifested in the 

 unusual amount of devastation caused by the caterpillars, wliich, not 

 satisfied with devouring tlie leaves and young shoots, have even eaten 

 into the wood, fruit trees being attacked in preference to others, and to 

 such an extent that many orchards and groves in May were as des- 

 titute of foliage as at Christmas. 



Propek method of .storing potatoes. — According to the English 

 Mechanic, potatoes should always be stored in as dry a state as pos- 

 sible, and should any disease be discovered among them, small quan- 

 tities only should be pitted together ; certainly not more than thirty 

 bushels in each pit. In the center of this pit should be ]:)laced a lump of 

 lime about the size of a man's head, and before covering them in 

 they should receive a good dusting of quick-lime. The lime absorbs 

 the moisture during the time the potatoes sweat, and by so doing pre- 

 vents the tubers from overheating, while its application also greatly 

 improves the quality of the potatoes, no doubt absorbing much of the 

 water from the tubers, and consequently making them more mealy than 

 if pitted without lime. After the potatoes have been lying in the pit 

 for at least a month, the}* should be carefully looked over, and may 

 be i)laced together in one or more large pits, in the center of which 

 should be placed a large basket of hard lumps of lime, or, should the pits 

 be in the form of long trenches, it will be well to place other baskets at 

 about twelve feet apart. The whole heap should also be well sprinkled 

 with lime before covering it. The ])its should be made low and narrow, 

 as they are thus less liable to heat than if made wide and high. 



Preventing iron garden-tools from rusting. — It is said that 

 if iron garden-tools are laid for a few minutes into a solution of soda, 

 they will be protected from rusting for a long time, even if exposed 

 coiitinuously to a moist atmosphere. 



Utilization of liquid sewage. — A contract has recently been 

 entered into by the police board of (xlasgow for the suj»ply from the 

 public urinals of 5,000 gallons of liquid sewage per day, for the sum of 

 1,000 pounds sterling ])er annum. This substance is to be subjected by 

 the purchasers to a chemical treatment for the purpose of converting it 

 into sulphate of ammonia. 



Speoificgravity test for potatoes. — A simple test adopted in 

 Germany for determining the comparative value of ditfereut samples of 

 potatoes as food, consists in the use of a saline solution of a certain 

 strength, in whicl) the potatoes are placed, and observing the depth to 

 which they sink. Those which sink the dee[)er, and especially those that 

 settle to the l)ottom, are the more valuable varieties; while the poorer 

 qualities tloat at the top. As this method depends for its principle upon 

 the fact that the amount of the starch in the potato is in the n>,tio of its 

 specific gravity, a much simi)ler method of getting the absolute value 

 consists in subjetjting the potato directly to the ordinary specific-grav- 

 ity test, and making the comparisons a(;corilingly. 



Department report on the preparation of timber. — A valu- 

 able report has just been published by the Engineer Department at 

 Washington, as i)repared by Captain T. J. Cram, upon the decay of 

 timber, and the methods for its preservation for military and engineer- 

 ing purposes. Tiie experiments of Captain Cram have tended to show- 

 that, for a limited period at least, creosoting the timber before immers- 

 ing it in sea-water is practically a preservative against the attack of 

 boring mollusks or crustaceans as well as ordinary decay, the tibial hav- 



