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case of cranberry-patclies. He has tried tliis experiment on a very 

 large scale dnring the past winter of 1S70-'71, and "has fonnd the most 

 gratifying result. Plants which had been seriously attacked, and 

 which were on the point of being torn up and burned, were found in 

 the ensuing spring to have recovered their vigor, and a careful exam- 

 ination failed to reveal the slightest traces of tlie destructive enemy. 

 This application can only be made, however, to vineyards having a level 

 surface and suitably arranged for the purpose. But M. Faucon is of 

 the opinion that only such vineyards as can be treated in this manner 

 can be maintained, and that all which are situated on the slopes of hills 

 must be given up, unless some special arrangements can be made for 

 the purpose of overflowing the roots of the vines. 



The spectkoscope, in testing the purity of wines. — Among 

 those who have made a practical application of the spectroscope to 

 various purposes in domestic econom}- and the arts, is Mr. J. C. Sorby, 

 of England. He uses as a scale an interference spectrum with dark 

 lines, by means of which the spectrum is divided into twelve optically 

 equivalent sections. With this instrument he has lately investigated 

 the coloring matters of Brazil-wood, and of logwood, in wine; first 

 shaking the latter with ether, and then evaporating the etherial solution 

 obtained, treating the residuum with water, displacing this with car- 

 bonate of ammonia, and then testing the solution with the spectrum 

 microscope. The question of a mixture of the coloring-matter of the 

 ratauy-root or of the poke-berry {Phytolacca decandra) is determined 

 after the wine has been reduced to a smaller volume by evaporation, 

 and the residuum treated with alcohol. The age of port, and other dark 

 wines, may be determined hy means of this apparatus. 



Improved mode op beead-makinGt. — Les Mondes gives an account, 

 by Dr. Sezille, of an improved method of bread-making from entire 

 wheat: This consists in first removing the husk of the grain by means 

 of properly constructed machinery, and then acting upon it several 

 times with tepid water, at about 17G° F. for the first bath, and 104° for 

 the second, hy which the cover of resinous gum of the grain is dissolved 

 and removed. This removal is necessary, on account of the fact that 

 this substance becomes very deep brown — almost blackish-colored by the 

 fermentation of the dough. The grain, during'the treatment in question, 

 absorbs from 65 to 70 per cent, of water, and is then reduced to a paste 

 by means of machinery very similar to that used in chocolate-mills. This 

 perfectly white paste is next leavened, and, after fermentation, is ready 

 for baking. By this process, from the same quantity of grain which, by 

 the usual method, furnishes 235 to 240 pounds of bread, the yield is 

 increased to 320 pounds, of very superior quality, and far greater nu- 

 tritive power. In addition to this, a very considerable saving of labor 

 and expense is the result of the application of this new process, which 

 has been thoroughly tested by competent and independent scientific, as 

 well as practical, men. 



Carbonic acid of the atmosphere. — A course of experiments upon 

 the amount of carbonic acid in the atmosphere has been prosecuted at 

 Eostock, for several years past, by Professor Schultz, who communicated 

 the results of his inquiries at the last meeting of the Society of German 

 Np^'.uralists and Physicists. The percentage found by him appears to 



J much less than that hitherto indicated by most observers ; the quan- 

 tity detected amounting to only about 2.9 of the acid in 10,000 volumes 

 of the air. Variations according to the time of day and year, noticed by 

 o 



