August 21, 1884] 



NA TURE 



599 



north it scarcely amounts to 3 cubic feet. Nor is the return 

 very satisfactory from a pecuniary point of view, most of the 

 Governments being far under one rouble per dessiatine, though 

 a few can show better results, those of Moscow, Kursk, 

 and Voronetz being $h roubles, of Charkow 5j, Tula 6'i6. 

 But the general value is not as satisfactory as in other 

 countries, Prussia showing an equivalent of z\ roubles, Bavaria 

 4J, Saxony 10, and France 9. One of the most useful develop- 

 ments of tree cultivation in Russia has been the formation of 

 plantations along the railway tracks, about 2000 dessiatines 

 having been already covered in this way on the Kursk-Charkoft- 

 Azov, the Kozloff-Voronetz-Rostoff, the Orel-Griasi and Fastovo 

 lines, the object being of course the protecting of the rails bom 

 snowdrift. M. Sredinsky, the inventor of this very successful 

 system, considers that seven rows of trees are sufficient for this 

 purpose, and on this calculation one verst would require 33,000 

 plants, of which 9000 must be trees, and the remaining 24,000 

 shrubs. The trees which he finds best adapted for this purpose 

 are elm, ash, oak, white and yellow acacia, maple, white thorn, 

 hazel {Corylus avellana), wild plum, gleditschia, mulberry, elder, 

 &c, but along the Sumi Railway in the Government of Char- 

 koff, Pinus sylvestris has been planted, and does well. Tree- 

 planting has also proved invaluable for fixing the sand plains at 

 Aleschki on the Dnieper, the best for this purpose being Salix 

 acuiifolia, Genista tinctoria, Ulex europirus, Prunus spiuosa, and 

 Pinus maritima. When Russia first got possession of the 

 Crimea, the banks of the Dnieper were wooded for at least 

 seventy versts ; but, as colonisation extended and population in- 

 creased, the herds and flocks destroyed the roots of the trees, 

 and thus allowed the formation of these sand plains, which com- 

 prise 139,000 dessiatines. Of these, some 20,000 are fairly 

 covered with Salix viminalis. Birch are found on about 10,000 

 dessiatines, while at least 34,000 are of the pure sand. 



THE AMERICAN INITIATIVE IN METHODS 



OF DEEP-SEA DREDGING l 

 "THE published records respecting the use of dredges for 

 •*■ natural history purposes carry us back to scarcely more 

 than a century and a quarter ago, when Otho Frederick Muller, 

 a prominent Danish naturalist, began his studies of the aquatic 

 life inhabiting the coasts of Norway and Denmark below the 

 shore-level. The dredge he used, a very simple affair, was, so 

 far as we know, the first one ever devised for the special needs 

 of the naturalist ; and yet, with only a single important modifi- 

 cation as to the shape of the frame, it has been handed down to 

 our time as the most efficient appliance for the ordinary purposes 

 of dredging. 



As described and figured in 1779, it consisted of a plain, 

 rectangular iron frame, with all four sides of equal length, and 

 bevelled to sharp edges in front, forming the mouthpiece to a 

 large and open net. Four handles extended forward from the 

 angles, and met in a single ring for the attachment of the drag- 

 rope. The principle defect of this dredge consisted in its very 

 wide mouth, permitting the easy escape of specimens both while 

 dragging and during the hauling in. 



Although Midler's researches were confined to shallow water, 

 apparently not exceeding a depth of thirty fathoms, they esta- 

 blished a precedent for subsequent operations, and afforded 

 proof of the value of submarine collecting. 



This new field of exploration did not, however, begin to enlist 

 the active services of working naturalists to any extent until 

 about the third or fourth decade of the present century, since 

 which time the interest in marine zoological research has rapidly 

 increased, and our knowledge of the sea-bottom has been ex- 

 tended to the deepest-known areas. For the first thirty or forty 

 years the improvement in methods of work scarcely kept pace 

 with the progress of knowledge regarding the inhabitants of the 

 sea ; and it is only within the past fifteen years that the methods 

 of deep-sea dredging have been at all perfected. 



To Dr. Robert Ball of Dublin, who was afterwards associated 

 with Prof. Edward Forbes in his memorable explorations, has 

 generally been given the credit of having devised, about 1838, 

 the improved form of naturalists' dredge, in nearly the same 

 shape in which it is used to-day. However that may be, it was 

 about the year last mentioned that both European and Ameri- 

 can naturalists entered actively into the study of the sea-bottom ; 

 and the history of their various exploits down to the present 

 1 From Science. 



time affords an exceedingly interesting chapter, upon which the 

 subject of our paper permits us to touch but slightly. 



It may be well to remark, however, that the character and 

 results of European, and especially British, exploration are much 

 more widely and popularly known than are those of our own 

 country. The reason is obvious. The active mercantile pur- 

 suits of a young and progressive people have naturally made 

 them less appreciative of scientific facts and results than the in- 

 habitants of many older countries, where business interests have 

 fewer claims upon all classes. There has been but a slight 

 demand for popular writings upon such an unpractical subject, 

 and the plodding naturalist has generally been content to record 

 his observations and methods where they were accessible only 

 to his brother-workers. For this 'reason American naturalists 

 have not received the credit which is their due, either at home 

 or abroad ; and much of the honour that justly belongs to them 

 has passed into other hands. 



So far as concerns the general public, this is not to be won- 

 dered at, when we consider that the only popular accounts of 

 deep-sea dredging explorations obtainable in this country are of 

 English origin. But the same excuse does not hold good for the 

 working naturalists of any country, including our own ; as the 

 progress of American deep-sea research, and the improvements 

 in methods for carrying it on, have in nearly all instances been 

 duly and promptly recorded in the proper channels to insure 

 wide and timely distribution. 



Since the very beginning of activity in this branch of investi- 

 gation, American workers have not been far behind those of any 

 European country ; and their record is as creditable. Dredging 

 was carried on by the Wilkes U. S. Exploring Expedition during 

 the early part of its cruise, beginning in 1838 ; and at about this 

 same time a few of our most earnest naturalists were using the 

 dredge at home. The late Dr. William Stimpson, one of the 

 most intelligent observers in this branch, and whose name is 

 closely linked with several important explorations/began his 

 career in Boston Harbour between 1S48 and 1850 ; his first in- 

 structions having been received from Dr. W. O. Ayres, who 

 began dredging fully ten years before. Stimpson's researches 

 were largely conducted under Government auspices ; and the 

 collection of submarine specimens resulting from his labours, 

 distributed over many portions of the Atlantic and Pacific 

 Oceans, was probably one of the very largest of its kind that 

 had been made, up to the time of its unfortunate destruction by 

 fire at Chicago, in 1871. The loss of these collections, and of 

 all the voluminous manuscript reports treating of them, followed 

 by the sad death of the author, has deprived our country of a 

 most important chapter in the history of submarine exploration. 



The sixth decade of this century, however, brought out many 

 additional investigators, and a fresh impetus was given to the 

 work, which has since been expanded and developed to such an 

 extent as to establish beyond all question American precedence 

 in the methods of deep-sea research at least, both as regards 

 dredging and sounding. 



From among the more energetic and successful of our modern 

 dredgers may be mentioned Prof. A. E. Verrill of Yale College, 

 whose dredging studies began in 1864, on the coast of Maine, 

 and who, since the organisation of the U.S. Fish Commission, 

 has been its main helper and adviser in all matters pertaining to 

 submarine research, the special direction of the dredging opera- 

 tions having been intrusted to him from the beginning. His 

 earlier experiences gave him a clear insight into the requirements 

 of the new project, and enabled him to devise many valuable 

 appliances, and improve upon those which had been in use. To 

 his zealous and untiring efforts is due much of the perfection in 

 present methods of work. 



In 1S67 Mr. L. F. de Pourtales, of the U.S. Coast Survey, 

 began the extensive series of deep-sea explorations off the 

 southern coast of the United States, which were carried on for 

 several years, and subsequently led to the eventful cruises of the 

 steamer Blake between 1877 and 1880, resulting in an entire 

 revolution in the methods of deep-sea dredging and sounding. 

 The investigations of Mr. Pourtales anticipated by a year those 

 of the English steamers Lightning and Porcupine, which have 

 been so widely described, and were preceded by only one series 

 of systematic dredgings in equal depths of water — those of the 

 Professors Sars, father and son, of Norway. But little credit for 

 this fact has been received from naturalists abroad, the date of 

 Mr. Pourtales' first cruise being generally regarded by them as 

 1868, although his first paper, descriptive of the character of his 

 work and of many new forms of deep-sea animals, appeared in 



