i88 



NA TURE 



\_Dec. 2 2, 1887 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1887 DECEMBER 25-31. 



/ 117 OR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ' -*■ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on Deceniher 25 

 Sun rises, 8h. 7m. ; souths, I2h. om. I4'9s. ; sets, I5h. 53m. : 



right asc. on meridian, iSh. 15 'om. ; decl. 23° 24' S. 



Sidereal Time at Sunset, 22h. 8m. 

 Moon (Full on December 30, 8h.) rises, I3h. 32m. ; souths, 



2oh. 31m. ; sets, 3h. 41m.* : right asc. on meridian, 



2h. 467m. ; decl. 10° 40' N. 



• Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



" "p ESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representa- 



^^ tives of the United States of America, in Congress 



assembled, That there be printed 310,000 copies of the Annual 



Report of the Co uumissioner of Agriculture for the year 1885 ; 



' " Report of the Commission of Agriculture, 1885. 

 ment Printing-Office.) 



(Washington Govern- 



200,000 for the use of the Members of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, 80,000 for the use of the Members of the Senate, and 

 30,oco copies for the use of the Department of Agriculture. 



" Sec. 2, That the sum of 200,000 dollars is hereby appro- 

 priated out of money in the Treasury to defray the cost of the 

 publication of the said Report." 



If the British Government desires to assist poor languish- 

 ing agriculture, it would be well for it to look across the 

 Atlantic Ocean for suggestions as to possible action. A "Conv- 

 missioner of Agriculture " and an Annual Report from him is in 

 itself enough to arrest attention. The very gilt letters on the 

 back of this volume supply a text upon which a profitable and 

 edifying sermon might be preached. The subject-matter of the 

 Report, its practical or unpractical nature, the sort of topic- 

 handled, and the manner of their handling, all ought to arouse 

 curiosity in the minds of those who doubt the utility of Com- 

 missions, and prefer laissez faire to stirring up with the long 

 pole. 



A more scattered flock than the agriculturists of Great Britain 

 it would be difficult to find. Sheep without a shepherd, soldiers 

 without a leader, a fleet without sailing orders, are the metaphors 

 we should use if it were our purpose to portray their present 

 condition. It is not so in America. There the interests of 

 agriculture are watched by a Department of Agriculture, and 

 the splendid Report of the proceedings of this Department serve< 

 as a mouth-piece of the whole agricultural community, and exer- 

 cises the functions of a heart in keeping up a healthy circulation 

 of knowledge and a brain in receiving impressions from all parts 

 of the body agricultural. No wave of pleasurable sensation aris- 

 ing from salubrity of climate or rise of values but causes a smiling 

 paragraph. No twinge of pain caused by insect attack or disease 

 but is at once chronicled and investigated in this excellent 

 Department. The cost is all defrayed by the Government, who 

 are not afraid to spend 200,000 dollars on the mere publication 

 of the Report. VVhether the Report is worth the immense sums 

 of money that its material with the large staff of persons em- 

 ployed in collecting the same must have cost is a question of 

 much importance, and not altogether easy to answer. One 

 thing, however, we may be certain of : that if it pays the 

 American Government to undertake the investigation of problems 

 connected with the productive powers of Nature, still more would 

 it pay us with our complicated agriculture and extensive system 

 of cultivation. It might be said in extenuation of our supineness 

 with regard to agricultural science that we have an Agricultural 

 Department of the Privy Council. So far as this Department 

 may prove a nucleus for further expansion it is good, but we 

 cannot conceal from ourselves the narrowness of the scope of our 

 Agricultural Department as compared with the breadth of the 

 aims and objects of the American Agricultural Department. The 

 energies of our Department are chiefly devoted to what is 

 included in the Report before us as the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry, but with this great difference : the English Agricultural 

 Department deals chiefly with inspecting and regulating the 

 ports of debarkation, reporting on outbreaks, and proclaiming 

 infected districts. It is intimately connected wiih and assisted 

 by the police. The American Bureau of Animal Industry 

 deals in rules and regulations for the suppression and extirpation 

 of contagious diseases, but in addition spends large sums upon 

 investigations into the nature, causes, and remedies of diseases. 

 Its Reports are replete with information as to liquid cultures of 

 the Bacterium of swine fever and other diseases. The American 

 Government have not only set themselves the task of preventing 

 the spread of disease, but are doing excellent work in tracking 

 diseases of all sorts to their source, with a fair and improving 

 prospect of being able to stop their devastations at the fountain- 

 head. Not only is this the case with regard to the diseases of 

 animals, but also of plants, under the sections respectively headed 

 "Report of the Botanist" and " Report of the Microscopist." 



Before endeavouring to lay before the readers of Nature any 

 of the facts recorded in this deeply interesting volume, I will 

 mention the various sections under which information is collecte<l 

 and investigations are prosecuted, feeling confident that by .-' 

 doing I shall show the many sides from which agriculture obtain 

 direct assistance from the progress of pure science. First in order 

 stands the Report of the Superintendent of Gardens and Grounds, 

 containing valuable information upon mildews and blights, the 

 peach-leaf blister, cracking of pears, and the potato-disease. 

 Next comes the Report of the Chief of the Seed Division, deal- 

 ing with cros>ing and hybridization, the production ot new 

 varieties of wheat by cross-fecundation, improvement by seld 



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