October 22, 1908] 



jVA TURE 



65: 



the students for business as farmers or for teaching and 

 research. 



Two more purely scientific papers were also taken on 

 the first day ; Dr. G. W. Carpenter described some of his 

 work upon the warble-fly and its attacks, and Mr. H. 

 Hunter e.xplained the results of the long and systematic 

 trials of barley varieties that have been made in Ireland 

 by the cooperation of Messrs. Guinness with the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. These trials have established beyond 

 any doubt the general superiority of " Archer " to other 

 barleys, both from the farmers' and the brewers' stand- 

 point, thus confirming the results ot the very similar trials 

 made in Denmark. 



Friday was given over to papers and discussions on breed- 

 ing and on the light which science is beginning to throw 

 on the problems of the stock raiser. Mr. Bateson opened 

 the proceedings by a luminous exposition of the Mendelian 

 standpoint, with. illustrations of how the work of the raiser 

 of new varieties of plants or the improver of breeds of 

 animals could reduce his work to something like certainty, 

 and work by design instead of by chance. Mr. W. Heape, 

 F.R.S., who followed, pleaded for the establishment of 

 experimental farms devoted to the solution of breeding 

 problems ; attention is at present exclusively given to the 

 raising of crops, forgetting the enormous importance of 

 our live-stock business. To Ireland such experimental 

 work would be specially valuable. Mr. Punnett then gave 

 an account of some of the more special applications of the 

 Mendelian principles to stock questions, and Prof. J. Wilson 

 showed how the facts of colour inheritance in cattle led 

 to certain conclusions concerning the original races of 

 cattle which have gone to make up the breeds now prevail- 

 ing in the British Islands. 



On the Monday the suction resumed its previous economic 

 jxjint of view, and gave it:. elf up to a very animated dis- 

 cussion of the factors which make for the success of small 

 holdings. Mrs. Wilkins (Miss Jebb) opened the proceed- 

 ings with a paper in which she sketched the very various 

 conditions under which success had been achieved in 

 England, and the necessity of certain collateral develop- 

 ments, such as cooperation, if any considerable numbers 

 of small holders have to support themselves upon the land. 

 She maintained that tlie fact that small tradespeople 

 and mechanics rather than agricultural labourers are at 

 the present moment chiefly applying for small holdings 

 is really a good omen for the success of the movement, 

 since such men are, as a rule, better able to make an 

 economic use of the land than men who would be forced 

 to depend wholly upon their small farming. 



Mr. Christopher Turnor insisted on the importance of 

 guiding the small holder in his methods of work and 

 cropping, even to the extent of establishing in each dis- 

 trict one or two model holdings cultivated for demonstra- 

 tion purposes. Mr. F. Impey gave some account of the 

 work that had been done in Great Britain in obtaining 

 small holdings of recent years, and Mr. Beach Thomas 

 described the evidence he had received as to the wide- 

 sprea'd desire of city workers to get back to the land. 

 \n animated discussion followed, a little political, perhaps, 

 at times, and not wholly devoid of rhetorical heat, but 

 still informing ; the general impression which seemed to 

 emerge was that success is being attained by market 

 gardening and fruit growing rather than by small farm- 

 ing. The president showed that in many cases, especially 

 in Ireland, it is the community rather than the individual 

 who should be the small holder, thus automatically 

 ensuring cooperation both in the work and the trading. 



The last meeting was held jointly with the parent section 

 of economics to hear various papers of a more general 

 economic character. Dr. Graham Brooks discussed the 

 moral effects of cooperation upon the workers, and Dr. 

 Moritz Bonn, of Munich, examined the statistics relative 

 to Irish agriculture to ascertain if the last twenty years 

 of land reform had begun to effect any improvement in 

 the productive power of the Irish occupier. Statistically 

 he could detect but little change, a view for which he 

 was somewhat fiercely taken to task bv the politicians 

 present. Statistical papers by Prof. J. Wilson and Mr. 

 W. G. Adams terminated a very successful session of the 

 subsection, at which the interest and attendance had been 

 maintained from the first day until the last. 

 NO. 2034, VOL. 78] 



METEOROLOGY IN AUSTRALIA.' 



'PHE Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, Australia 

 has now been in existence more than a year, and 

 issued its first Bulletin a few months ago. This is an 

 article on the " Climate and Meteorology of ."Xustralia, " 

 and is written by the Commonwealth meteorologist, Mr. 

 H. A. Hunt. It contains some very interesting data with 

 regard to the climate of the various capitals, and indicates 

 that .Adelaide is the driest and sunniest, and that Brisbane 

 is the hottest, capital. The hottest region is in the northern 

 part of West Australia, near the Marble Bar and NuUa- 

 gine goldfields, where the maximum shade temperature 

 often exceeds ioo° for days and even weeks continuously. 



The Northern Territory and Queensland receive their 

 rain in the summer from the monsoonal depressions from 

 the north-east. The southern parts of West Australia and 

 South Australia benefit from the Antarctic depressions in 

 winter. In Victoria and Tasmania the seasonal change 

 of rainfall is not strongly marked. New South Wales gets 

 most of its rain in the later summer and autumn. 



The wettest place is Geraldton, in north-east Queens- 

 land, with an average yearly fall of 145 inches ; the driest 

 region is round Lake Eyre, where 10 inches in one year 

 is exceptional, 5 inches being the average. 



In discussing cyclones and storms, mention is made of 

 the " Willv Willies " which afilict the north-west parts 

 of West .\ustralia. These are severe cyclones which 

 apparently originate in the Cambridge Gulf and travel 

 south-west and south along the line of the coast, or they 

 cross the continent towards the Australian Bight. These 

 storms cause great havoc, and are marked by torrential 

 rains. 



The " Southerly Burster " is peculiar to the eastern 

 parts of Australia, and is a cold wind which always follows 

 a period of hot weather. It is usually associated with 

 the V-shaped depression between two anticyclones. These 

 storms are usually first noted on the extreme south coast, 

 and they travel northward at the rate of about twenty 

 miles per hour. The velocity of the winds varies, some- 

 times reaching eighty miles per hour. 



Winds of similar character to " Bursters " are the 

 " Bora " on the east coast of the Adriatic, the " Mistral " 

 in France, the " Northers " of Texas, and the " Pampero " 

 in the Argentine. South Africa also has a wind of like 

 nature and origin. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — On the occasion of the visit of the members 

 of the International Conference on Electrical Units, the 

 Public Orator (Dr. Sandys) spoke as follows in presenting 

 on October 17 the several distinguished recipients of the 

 degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa : — 



(i) Scandinaviam hodie nobis quasi praesentem reddit 

 Upsalae et Holmiae alumnus insignis, qui " electrolysis " 

 (ut aiunt) praesertim in provincia investigatorum omnium 

 dux et signifer mcrito existimatur ; qui scientiae chemicae 

 in regione physica inter conditores praecipuos numeratur ; 

 qui e scientia ilia praemium orbi terrarum toti propositum 

 reportavit, cuius laudis inter participes iUustres et Can- 

 cellarium nostrum et rei physicae Professorem nostrum 

 esse gloriamur. Idem solis ipsius naturae inter explora- 

 tores patientissimus, tempestatum inter augures per- 

 spicacissimus, (ut Arislophanis verbis paulluluin mutatis 

 utar) Tciii' rGi/ /x^T€o}po\oynvvTuv quasi princeps iure optimo 

 esse fertur. 



Ergo Scientiaruni Doctor hodie merito creatur scientiae 

 chemicae in provincia physica Instituti Nobilis Scientiarum 

 in ..\cademia Regia Holmensi Rector, Svantius Augustus 

 .■\rrhenius. 



(2) Francogallorum respublica maxima, nobis vicina, 

 nobis amicitiae vinculis indies artioribus coniuncta, viri 

 desideratissimi in vicem, successorem eius misit dignissi- 

 mum, qui non modo inter Germanos sed etiam inter 

 Francogallos educatus, Parisiensium in Universitate iam 

 per annos duo et viginti scientiam physicam praeclare 

 1 "The Climale and Meteorology of Australia" (Reprinted from the 

 " Year Book of ihe Commonwealth of Australia." Bulletin No. i, issued 

 March, igcS ) By H. A. Hunt. 



