364 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 768 



The Missouri State Soil Survey and the 

 United States Soil Survey have united on a 

 plan of cooperative work. Each survey con- 

 tributes $15,000 for the biennial period, 

 1909-11. Professor C. F. Marbut, director of 

 the Missouri Survey has been appointed 

 special agent in charge. He will also have 

 charge of the reconnoissance work in the 

 Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas. The 

 local detailed work and the selection of areas 

 to be surveyed are largely decided by the 

 state survey and the broader correlations and 

 nomenclature are largely left to the United 

 States Survey. The federal survey assumes 

 the expenses of publication. Each soil party 

 consists of one man from the United States 

 Survey and one from the state survey. It is 

 expected that from four to five counties will 

 be surveyed each year. 



Sir William Hartley, of Liverpool and 

 London, offers £1,000 to the first person who 

 makes a successful flight in a heavier-than-air 

 machine between Liverpool and Manchester. 

 The aviator is to depart from within the 

 boundary of Liverpool and land, without any 

 intermediate stop, within the boundary of 

 Manchester. The offer is international and 

 will last for six months, the flight to be made 

 between sunrise and sunset and twelve hours' 

 notice to be given to the Liverpool Daily Post 

 and Mercury, in whose hands the competition 

 is placed. 



The government's work in poisoning prairie 

 dogs on infested stock ranges in the Missoula 

 National Forest district has had results this 

 year which forest officers have decided warrant 

 its continuation in 1910. For two years sys- 

 tematic efforts upon an extensive scale have 

 been made by the Forest Service in coopera- 

 tion with the stockmen, to rid the national 

 forest ranges in Arizona, Colorado and New 

 Mexico of these pests, but this work was not 

 undertaken in the northwest until the spring 

 of 1909. Eastern Montana and the Dakotas 

 seem to be the worst-infested portion of the 

 Missoula district. The national forest areas 

 of these regions are comparatively small, but 

 in some instances the colonies or towns of 

 these animals cover an area of several hundred 



acres and the native forage plants have been 

 greatly injured, while some range areas out- 

 side the forests have been practically de- 

 vastated. In the spring of the present year 

 small allotments of funds were made to the 

 supervisors of the Custer and Sioux National 

 Forests for the purpose of starting this work. 

 The funds were for the most part expended in 

 purchasing strychnine and other drugs used 

 in preparing grain for bait, while the grain 

 was furnished by the settlers. The poisoned 

 grain, usually wheat, was distributed at the 

 holes throughout the dog towns, both by for- 

 est officers and by forest users. More time was 

 consumed in perfecting the plan of coopera- 

 tion than had been anticipated and much of 

 the bait was put out too late to obtain the best 

 results, though several large dog towns were 

 entirely cleaned up. Experience has proved 

 that the grain should be put out very early in 

 the spring for the best results may be ob- 

 tained before green grass becomes available. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 



The five hundredth anniversary of St. An- 

 drews University will take place in 1913. At 

 a recent meeting it was agreed to arrange for 

 a national as well as an academic celebration. 

 It has been resolved to form a general com- 

 mittee representing Scottish interests and 

 sympathies, to fix the date of the celebration, 

 and to endeavor to associate with the festival 

 some permanent memorial of the anniversary. 



The number of foreign students at the Ger- 

 man universities last summer was 3,921. The 

 number includes 1,578 Russians, 674 Austro- 

 Hungarians, 306 Swiss, 155 English, 154 Bul- 

 garians, 102 Rumanians, 68 Servians, 60 

 French, 298 Americans, 175 Asiatics and 4 

 Australians. 



Five scholarships and two fellowships have 

 been awarded by the College of Agriculture of 

 the University of Wisconsin. The two fellow- 

 ships of $400 each recently provided by the 

 regents were awarded to Alvin C. Oosterhuis, 

 Sheboygan Falls, Wis., in animal husbandry, 

 and Morris W. Richards, Madison, Wis., in 

 horticulture. 



