282 



NA TURE 



[May 6, 1909 



The history of the expedition has been compiled by 

 Cay. De Filippi, and it is clear from his narrative 

 that the expedition required great personal strength, 

 courage, and endurance. The Prince and his two 

 guides were badly smitten with snow blindness after 

 the ascent of Mount Stanley, for they had to work 

 all day in a glaring white fog, which was too dense 

 to allow the use of goggles. The author mentions 

 (p. 243) that the Prince spent seventeen days above 

 the height of 13,000 feet, with a very light equipment, 

 sleeping with the two guides in a Whymper tent, with- 

 out a camp bed, and with clothes nearly always 

 soaked with rain and snow. The climbing was in 

 places very difficult, and the dangers were increased 

 by the prevailing mists and bad weather. Some of 

 the ascents taxed the skill of such expert climbers as 

 the Prince and his two guides ; but others were easy ; 

 thus the highest point of Mount Speke, 16,080 feet, 

 though snow covered, did not require the use of the 

 rope. 



Commander Cagnl, the surveyor of the expedition, 

 has compiled a full sketch-map of Ruwenzori, includ- 

 ing all its snow-covered peaks. The topographic data 

 are stated in appendices. The mountains are illus- 

 trated by a series of magnificent photographic pano- 

 ramas by Sella. The survey shows that the snow- 

 capped peaks of Ruwenzori are arranged in a line 

 curved like the letter G. Going from the upper point 

 of the G to the tail, the peaks in succession are Mount 

 Gessi, Mount Emin, Mount Speke, Mount Stanley — 

 which includes the highest peaks of the ridge — Mount 

 Baker, and at the end of the tail of the G is Mount 

 Luigi de Savoia. The height of the highest point, 

 Mount Margherita on Mount Stanley, is given as 

 16,815 feet. 



The nomenclature is very carefully explained, and 

 a table of synonyms (pp. 218-9) will be useful, as 

 geographers are above rules of priority. Stiihlmann's 

 early names are quietly put aside, and the proposed 

 native names are also rejected. There had been con- 

 siderable confusion in the application of the early 

 names, but this is perhaps hardly likely to be removed 

 by some of the changes. For the worst alteration of 

 names, the Prince, however, is not responsible, as he 

 only yielded to the wish of the Geographical Society. 

 It naturally desired that the Prince's name should be 

 attached to one of five mountains, but unfortunately 

 selected the one that had been named Mount Moebius 

 by Stiihlmann years earlier. The name Moebius has, 

 therefore, been transferred to a minor peak in the 

 central part of the range. The peaks called by 

 Stiihlmann Mount Semper are re-christened the 

 Alexandra and Margherita peaks of Mount 

 Stanley. 



The full scientific results are being published in a 

 supplementary volume which has not been translated, 

 but some account of the results is included. The geo- 

 logical collections and geological sketch-map of the 

 central part of Ruwenzori fully confirm the Archean 

 age of its rocks, as to which doubt had been suggested 

 by Mr. WoUaston's description of craters and crater- 

 lakes ; the author refers to some veins of basalt in the 

 gneiss (p. 222) as the only formation on Ruwenzori 

 of a volcanic nature, and such veins do not necessarily 

 indicate volcanic action. The glaciers are proved to 

 be ice-caps or calottes, with the glaciers extending as 

 finger-shaped processes. The snow limit is at present 

 at the height of from 14,700 to 14,800 feet, but it 

 is now suggested that the glaciers extended even 

 lower than was claimed by Scott Elliot. The evi- 

 dence on which this low-level glaciation is based is, 

 however, not given, and some doubt as to its value is 

 raised by the remark that the exfoliation surfaces of 

 NO. 2062, VOL. 80] 



granite, the characteristic weathering of granite in 

 the tropics, are " somewhat similar to the rocks known 

 as moutonn^es in regions which have passed through 

 a glacial period " (p. 91). However, as the rainfall 

 in Ruwenzori is probably exceptionally heavy, it may 

 well be that the glaciers there reached a lower level 

 than on Mount Kenya. All students of .-\frican geo- 

 graphy, and all interested in mountain exploration, 

 will feel indebted to the Duke of the Abruzzi for the 

 brilliant feat of travel by which he has wrested from 

 the clouds of Ruwenzori the secrets they have con- 

 cealed so long. 



J. W. Gregory. 



SOME ASPECTS OF THE WHEAT PROBLEM.' 



FEW agricultural problems appeal to a wider circle 

 both among agriculturists and the general 

 public than wheat production ; the layman often 

 considers it to be the farmer's chief business, 

 and many farmers are still to be found who 

 look back v^'ith regret on the days when it actually 

 was so. 



The area under wheat in the whole world exceeds 

 200 million acres, and something like 400 million 

 quarters are raised. About 220 million quarters are 

 grown in Europe, Russia being the chief producer, 

 followed by France, Hungary, and Italy; 107 million 

 quarters are grown on the American continent (more 

 than 75 million in the United States, 20 million in the 

 Argentine, and 10 million in Canada), and about 53 

 million quarters in Asia, three-fourths of which comes 

 from India. It is noteworthy that the wheat area 

 tends to decrease in old and highly farmed countries, 

 but to expand in new countries or in old, backward 

 countries just beginning to utilise their resources. 

 To a certain extent, wheat is, therefore, a pioneer 

 crop, and is relatively fnore important in the early 

 stages of development of a country than later on 

 when it simply takes its place in the rotation with 

 other crops. It cannot remain so indefinitely, but 

 there are still immense tracts to which it can spread. 

 It requires warm, sunny summers, and not too much 

 rain ; indeed, it can do with astonishingly little rain 

 if appropriate cultivation methods are adopted ; where 

 the summers are suitable, severe winters are no bar 

 to the cultivation of wheat, though they may limit the 

 yield. 



The fact that wheat is one of the first crops grown 

 in a new country renders necessary a thorough study 

 of the effect of external conditions such as soil, 

 climate, and manuring on its development. Much 

 still remains to be done, especially with regard to 

 the influence of water supply. There are also im- 

 portant breeding problems. No crop can be success- 

 fully grown on a large scale unless it is adapted to 

 the local conditions, tolerably resistant to the local 

 diseases, and commands an adequate price in the 

 market. The first two conditions afford fairly 

 straightforward problems. Wheats suitable to a given 

 district are usually found by trying a number of 

 varieties, and then improving on the most promising 

 by the slow and mechanical process of selection — in 

 other words, waiting for a " mutation " form to turn 

 up. Resistance to rust, one of the worst diseases of 

 wheat, has been shown by Biffen to be in all prob- 

 ability a Mendelian character ; it should, therefore, 



1 A. E. Humphries : Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, No. 2Q34 ; 

 A. Howard and G. L. C. Howard : Bulletin 14, Agricultural Rfsear h 

 Institute, Pusa ; A. E. V. Richardson : Journal of Agriculture of .South 

 Australia, vol. xii., No. 6 ; K. J. J. Mackenzie : Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture, vol. xv., No. 10. 



