472 
distinguished only by very close and. careful examination from the 
unadulterated seed. 
So patient, ingenious, and successful have been Dr. Nobbe’s investiga- 
tions, that he is able to distinguish with accuracy the seeds of the com- 
mon cultivated plants and weeds, and to determine as well the percent- 
ages of pure seeds and adulterations, as what proportion of the genu- 
ey seeds are capable of germinating, and thus producing vigorous 
plants. 
One outgrowth of Dr. Nobbe’s work at Tharand, is his lately com- 
pleted Handbuch der Samenkunde, a volume of 642 pages, of which 366 
pages are devoted to the physiology of seeds, 138 to the means of deter- 
mining their agricultural value, and the rest to the means of prevent- 
ing frauds, and other topics. 
Dr. Nobbe points with pride to the fact that at the time of the com- 
pletion of this work there were already established in Germany some 
twenty seed-control stations, whose directors had almost without excep- 
tion spent more or less time at the station at Tharand in preparing for 
their work, that still more stations were to be established in Germany, 
and that similar institutions were founded or proposed in Denmark, 
Austria, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, and Italy. 
RESULTS OF WORK OF STATIONS—HOW MADE KNOWN AND APPLIED. 
Those who are interested in the progress of agricultural science and the 
diffusion of agricultural knowledge, will find not only the organization 
and work of tie experiment-stations, but also the ways in which their 
researches are made known and applied in practice worthy their care- 
ful study. An excellent indication of the state of affairs in this respect 
is found in the agricultural literature where the stations exist. 
During the present year has appeared a work by Dr. Wolff, director 
of the station at Hohenheim, in Germany, entitied Die Hr néihrung der 
landwirthschaftlichen Nutethiere. It is a royal: octavo volume of some 
550 pages, and gives a ‘critical compilation of the results of the later 
investigations in animal physiology in their relation to the maintenance 
of domestic animals.” it is, in fact, a compilation of the feeding experi- 
ments made (almost entirely in the German stations) since the year 
1860. How great is the number of experiments whose details in part 
and results as a whole are herein described, may be inferred from the 
fact that, during the time specified, more than one thousand ,jhave been 
performed in which the digestibility of various food-materials by differ- 
ent animals has been tested, each one with a thoroughness that has - 
never been so much as imitated on this side of the Atlantic. It is in- 
teresting, often amusing, but oftener sad to compare the vague discus- 
sions of some of even our most noted writers and talkers on cattle- 
feeding, with the close, patient, long-continued experimenting and eare- 
fully-attested conclusions on the same points which are given in this 
work. 
But in order that the results of these researches may attain their 
greatest usefulness, they must. be presented in a less abstract form— 
they must be explained in clear, brief terms, so that ordinary farmers 
may be abletoread them understandingly and toapply the results to their 
daily practice with a fair hope of profit. Precisely this want has been 
met by Dr. Wolff in a little quarto volume of some 200 pages, in. which 
the more important elementary principles concerning foods, nutrition, 
and feeding are explained in terms that any intelligent German farmer 
can readily comprehend. This volume tells just exactly what every man 
