March 5, 1908] 



NATURE 



419 



I)ui-poscs. The pamphlet contains information with regard 

 to experimental cultivation in India and the United States 

 of America. 



An article communicated by the chief conservator of 

 forests in Burma, Mr. F. B. Bryant, is published in the 

 Indian Forester (December, 1907), in which a strong case 

 is made out against continued fire conservancy in certain 

 of the moist teak forests. The policy of fire, conservancy 

 continued over a period of years has resulted in excessive 

 development of the bamboos Bambusa polymorpha and 

 Cephalostachyuni pcrgracile, which smother the young 

 teak and other light-demanding trees. It is also pointed 

 out that, owing to the presence of the latter bamboo, 

 extensive regeneration of teak when the Bambusa flowers 

 gregariously is likely to be frustrated. The sanction of 

 the Government of Burma to the abandonment of fire 

 conservancy in selected areas has already been granted. 



As important article on the Douglas fir as a commercial 

 timber tree is contributed to the Transactions of the Royal 

 Scottish Arboricultural Society (vol. xx., part i.) by Mr. 

 J. D. Crozier. Owing to the difference in the rate of 

 growth, it is essential to distinguish between the " green " 

 Oregon variety and the slower growing " glaucous " 

 Colorado variety. The author alludes to the excellent 

 results shown by pure plantations on the Grampians, but 

 expresses the opinion that the Douglas fir is not adapted 

 to mixed plantations unless with the Norway spruce. As 

 a suitable crop for poor and exposed ground, Sir John 

 Stirling-Maxwell recommends the mountain pine, Pinus 

 montana. Three varieties are specified, the upright, the 

 intermediate, and the dwarf forms. The first is the more 

 valuable, and grows at high elevations, notably in the 

 Pyrenees. The intermediate is principally useful for 

 afforestation of heaths ; the dwarf form has no sylvicultural 

 interest. 



The Director-General of Indian Observatories has issued 

 a memorandum (dated December 6, 1907) on the meteor- 

 ology of October and November, 1907, with a discussion 

 of the conditions affecting the precipitation during the cold 

 weather of 1907-8. These seasonal forecasts, although 

 at present only general opinions based on past experience, 

 are of very great imf>ortance both to the Government and 

 to agriculturists. On the mean of the whole country, the 

 rainfall in October was 52 per cent, and in November 

 31 per cent, in defect. The records of the last thirty 

 years, including some selected from places outside India, 

 show that conditions like those of the past season have 

 been followed by a deficiency of precipitation in January 

 more often than by an excess. The data then available 

 for February throw very little light upon the probable 

 rainfall of that month. 



A TOUCH of wintry weather has spread over the whole 

 country during the past week, and somewhat heavy falls 

 of snow have occurred over a large part of Great Britain, 

 whilst the temperature has been lower than for some 

 time past. Strong winds and gales have been experienced 

 in many places, and since March set in our weather has 

 been under the influence of cyclonic disturbances passing 

 down the North Sea. The Summary of the Weather issued 

 by the Meteorological Office shows that for the winter 

 season — December to February — the mean temperature 

 over the United Kingdom was nowhere very different from 

 the average. The heaviest rainfall for the three months 

 occurred in the north of Scotland, where the aggregate 

 measurement was 17-19 inches, whilst the least aggregate 

 fall was 5-21 inches, in the north-east of England. The 



NO. 2001, VOL. yy] 



winter rainfall was generally in excess of the average over 

 the northern portion of the kingdom, but in defect else- 

 where. The greatest excess was i.6i inches, in the north- 

 west of England, whilst the greatest deficiency was 2-65 

 inches, at the English Channel stations. The number of 

 days with rain ranged from seventy-one in the north of 

 Scotland to forty-seven in the south of England and the 

 Midland counties. The greatest duration of sunshine for 

 the winter was 203 hours, in the Midland counties, which 

 is twenty-nine hours more than the average. The least 

 duration was ninety-five hours, in the north of Scotland. 



At the instance of Prof. Ricchieri, of the Accademia 

 Scientifico-Letteraria, Milan, the reader of a paper on the 

 spelling of place names at the sixth International Geo- 

 graphical Congress, held at London in 1895, the organising 

 committee of the ninth International Geographical 

 Congress, .which is to meet at Geneva on July 27 to 

 August 6, has placed on the list of agenda of the congress 

 the following question : — What are the principal difficulties 

 in the way of arriving at an international agreement on 

 the transcription and orthography of geographical names, 

 and in what manner can they be surmounted? Prof. 

 Ricchieri, believing that if this problem is to be solved 

 at all it can only be by slow stages and methodical pro- 

 cedure, proposes that all that should be aimed at in the 

 first instance should be a preliminary understanding 

 among a few men of different nationalities interested in 

 this question as to the fundamental points on which it is 

 necessary that a final agreement should, if possible, be 

 reached, and that a statement of those points should be 

 laid before the congress at Geneva, which should then be 

 asked to appoint a small committee to study and procure 

 the discussion of those points, and ultimately to draw up 

 proposals and resolutions thereon. He further suggests 

 that this committee should be expected to publish its pro- 

 posals at least one year before the meeting of the next 

 International Congress, which, it is hoped, might then be 

 in a position to draw up final resolutions on the subject. 

 This scheme of operations has received the support of 

 Prof. Henri Cordier, of the Fcole sp^ciale des langues 

 orientales, Paris ; Prof. Robert Sieger, of the University 

 of Graz; and of Mr. G. G. Chisholm, Birkbeck College, 

 University of London, who have agreed to cooperate with 

 Prof. Ricchieri in drawing up the preliminary statement of 

 fundamental points requiring solution to be laid before the 

 Geneva congress. Mr. Chisholm will be glad to forward 

 to Prof. Ricchieri any suggestions on this question sent to 

 him at his private address (59 Drakefield Road, Upper 

 Tooting, London, S.W.). 



The curious phenomenon of a soft steel disc revolving 

 at a high speed cutting hard steel has attracted the atten- 

 tion of numerous observers, and Mr. F. W. Harbord has 

 endeavoured to throw light on the subject by publishing 

 in the Engineer of February 21 the results of a microscopic 

 examination of the revolving disc and of the material 

 subjected to its action. He finds that the material acted 

 upon is heated at the point of contact to a temperature 

 approaching, if not equal to, the melting point of steel, 

 and that this high temperature is confined practically te 

 the surface in contact with the disc. 



In the Engineering Magazine (vol. xxxiv.. No. 5) atten- 

 tion is directed by Mr. Clarence Hall and Mr. W. O. 

 Snelling to the waste of life in .American coal-mining. 

 Four recent mine disasters in the United States, with the 

 loss of nearly one thousand lives, emphasise the urgent 

 importance of the theme. Statistics show in regard to 



