JuLy 11, 1912] 
NATURE 
489 
more or less independent regions, each with its own 
biological character. The distribution of the Clado- 
cera in each of these is given, with a discussion of the 
reasons why certain species occur in all the regions, 
whereas others are found in only one or two. By 
means of sixty-two diagrams, in the form of curves, 
the sexual period of each species (and variety) of 
Cladocera captured is shown, and the stations at 
which these species have been found are marked on 
thirty-eight maps of the lake, on which also the various 
shore conditions (e.g. the nature of the aquatic plants) 
are indicated. This investigation has evidently been 
carried out in a very thorough manner, and affords a 
good example of the intensive method. 
Jeni. A 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE 
UNITED STATES.1 
tite object of the interesting volume referred to 
below is sufficiently indicated by the title and 
subtitle. The public schools are those of elementary 
and secondary grade. In his introductory note, Mr. 
Judd ascribes the present great activity shown by the 
United States in agricultural education to (a) the 
large number of persons engaged in agriculture; (b) 
the value of its products; (c) the necessity, in con- 
nection with rural depopulation, for making farm 
activities attractive; and (d) the desirability of laying 
greater emphasis on outdoor experiences in the educa- 
tion of children. 
The volume first. gives an account of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, organised in 1862. During 
the last twenty years a sum approximating to twenty- 
one million pounds sterling of public money has been 
spent on agricultural research and education in the 
States, mostly through the Department, which since 
1889 has worked with the Association of American 
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, at 
first for the organisation of collegiate instruction, and 
more recently with a view to place agricultural school 
teaching on a sound basis. The U.S. Bureau of 
Education has played the part of a correlating influ- 
ence, exercised through its publications, legislation, 
and the land-grant colleges. 
Much has also been done by the State Departments 
of Education. Prof. Davis considers the State agri- 
cultural colleges as the most important agent in 
agricultural education, and they are now assisting 
the elementary and secondary schools by various ex- 
tension methods, by organising departments of agri- 
cultural education, and by conducting summer schools 
for teachers. After dealing successively with State 
normal schools, national education and other asso- 
ciations, educational periodicals, and periodical litera- 
ture, the author gives an account of State organisa- 
tions for agriculture, and farmers’ institutes. In 
1908 there were 4643 regular and a number of special 
institutes, attended by more than two and a _ half 
million persons. 
‘The function of the farmers’ institute is to educate 
the people on their own ground. It is a phase of 
extension work that carries education directly to the 
localities in which the people live. It deals less with 
individual men on their farms than with small com- 
munities or groups of men; it therefore has the 
opportunity to exert great influence in developing the 
social life of rural neighbourhoods” (p. 90). 
Next follow accounts of agricultural societies, boys’ 
1 ** Agricultural Education in the Public Schools.” A Study of its 
Development. with Particular Reference to the Agencies Concerned. By 
Prof. R M. Davis. Introduction by C. H. Judd, D'rector of the School of 
Education. University of Chicago. Pp. vit163. (University of Chicago 
Press, Chicago, Il. ; Cambridge University Press, London and Edinburgh, 
1912.) Price 4s. net 
NO. 2228, vot. 89] 
\ perenteteat clubs, and 
elementary and secondary 
schools. Of schools the author speaks as follows 
(p. 126) :— 
“Agricultural colleges are now well established, 
and their problems are largely matters of detail and 
of research. The problems of agricultural education 
are now being shifted to the secondary schools offering 
agricultural instruction. There is a great diversity, 
not only in respect to types of schools, but also as to 
methods, time devoted to the subject, equipment, 
qualification of teachers, and in other respects. But 
of the widespread interest there can be no doubt. 
The results on the whole promise much for the 
development of rural education and redirection of 
rural schools.” 
The work concludes with a short chapter on text- 
books, and a valuable bibliography with annotations. 
Nor is a good index forgotten. 
Prof. Davis may be congratulated on a most valu- 
able and thoughtful expert contribution to the litera- 
ture of his subject. The problems he discusses are 
at present engaging very serious attention in this 
country on the part of the Boards of Agriculture and 
Education, and of those concerned with all grades of 
agricultural and rural instruction, to whom the book 
is heartily recommended, though all the methods 
advocated are not necessarily suited to Britain, e.g. 
the teaching of agriculture as such at the school 
stage. There is also room for difference of opinion 
as to the lines on which farm institutes are best 
organised. J. R. Atnsworru-Davis. 
HURRICANES OF THE WEST INDIES 
AND OTHER TROPICAL CYCLONES. 
a Journal of the Washington Academy of 
Sciences of May 19 contains an abstract of a 
useful paper, by Dr. O. L. Fassig, on the above sub- 
ject, intended to appear as a special Bulletin of the 
U.S. Weather Bureau. An analysis of 135 storms 
recorded by the Bureau from 1876 to rt9r1o in the 
West Indies shows that their paths closely coincide 
with the two branches of the great equatorial current 
of the North Atlantic. The path of greatest storm 
frequency begins near the Windward Islands, and 
runs nearly due west to Jamaica, gradually turns 
north-west, recurves in the eastern part of the Gulf 
of Mexico, and passes out north-easterly over the 
North Atlantic. A secondary track extends from the 
northern group of the Windward Islands across the 
Bahamas, recurves east of Florida, and passes out 
also north-easterly into the Atlantic. 
The path pursued by an individual storm depends 
to a great extent upon the point of its origin. Those 
that originate far to the east, as they generally do 
in August and September, are most likely to move 
west-north-west for a considerable distance before re- 
curving, while those which originate in the western 
waters of the Caribbean Sea, as those do in the early 
season and in October, move north-west or north 
along the recurve of the normal track. Some of the 
more important facts given in the tables show that 
the storms may occur in any month from May to 
November, but that the great majority take place 
from August to October; that the area in which they 
originate is between latitude 12° and 28° N. and 
longitude 55° to 95° W.; that their mean annual 
frequency is 4; and that the mean daily velocity in 
the first branch and in the recurve is 260 miles, and 
in the second branch 390 miles. Conditions favour- 
ing the formation of the cyclonic systems are pro- 
duced by changes in the positions and intensities of 
the so-called permanent areas of high and low atmo- 
! spheric pressure. 
