January 3, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



19 



Dr. Bdrt L. Haetwell, professor of agri- 

 cultural chemistry in the Ehode Island State 

 College, has been appointed director of the 

 station to succeed Dr. Homer H. Wheeler, who 

 recently resigned. 



Mr. E. G. Arzberger, H. E. Watts, J. B. 

 Demaree, L. E. Melchers and J. T. Kogers, as- 

 sistant botanists in the botanical department 

 of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 have resigned from their positions. 



Dr. J. W. Nicholson, M.A., Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, has been appointed professor of 

 mathematics in London University, being at- 

 tached to King's College. 



Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., professor of 

 chemistry at Manchester University, has been 

 elected Waynflete professor of chemistry at 

 Oxford. A grant of £15,000 towards the erec- 

 tion of the new chemical laboratory, as well as 

 a further loan, has been promised by the trus- 

 tees of the chancellor's endovnuent fund. 



DISCUSSION AND COBBESPONDENCE 

 A NEW WEED EXTERMINATOR 



Wild garlic (Allium vineale) has become a 

 serious farm pest, especially in the belt of 

 territory extending from Maryland to Mis- 

 souri. Beside having the usual competitive 

 action as a weed in cultivated fields, the pres- 

 ence of bulblets in wheat lowers the market 

 value, as the bulblets are about the size and 

 color of the grains, and difficult to separate. 

 The weed also gives an unpleasant taint to the 

 milk and flesh of animals feeding on the leaves, 

 and to flour made from wheat containing the 

 bulblets. 



Owing to the remarkable tenacity of life pos- 

 sessed by the bulbs and bulblets no practical 

 method to rid the soil of the pest has hereto- 

 fore been found, and in some localities fields 

 have been abandoned and given over to the 

 weed. 



Nearly two years ago an investigation of the 

 wild garlic was taken up as a special problem 

 by the Botanical Department of the Indiana 

 Experiment Station. The field tests were car- 

 ried on in cooperation with Dr. H. E. Horton, 

 agronomist of the American Steel & Wire Co., 



and Mr. Jacob Cronbach, of Mount Vernon, 

 Ind. After various chemical sprays and cul- 

 tural methods had been tried to little purpose, 

 Mr. F. J. Pipal, assistant botanist in the Indi- 

 ana Station and in direct charge of the work, 

 suggested the use of orchard heating oil, as 

 supplied by the Standard Oil Co., applied as a 

 spray. 



Remarkable results were obtained from the 

 beginning of the tests. It was found that when 

 the oil was distributed over the field in a fine 

 spray by a sufficiently powerful spraying ma- 

 chine, that all growing vegetation was killed, 

 not only above ground but below ground as 

 well, except the long horizontal rootstocks of 

 such plants as Tecoma radicans and Solarium 

 caroKnense, and the extra large roots of such 

 plants as Ipom.ma pandurata, the latter requir- 

 ing a correspondingly larger amount of oil. 

 It destroyed the bulbs of the wild garlic, how- 

 ever deep below the surface, and the bulblets 

 at the tops of the stalks as well. The oil ap- 

 peared to produce no lasting efi^ects upon the 

 soil, and new growth from seeds already in the 

 soil and from subsequently sowed cereals pos- 

 sessed the usual vigor. The best times and 

 methods for the application are now being 

 tested. 



The introduction of this new material for 

 killing weeds is accompanied by a new method 

 of application. Heretofore chemical sprays 

 have been differential, and intended to kill 

 only the weeds while leaving the crops essen- 

 tially unharmed. Orchard heating oil acts as 

 a complete spray, killing all vegetation, like 

 plowing or fire, only more effectively than 

 these, as it follows the stems and roots well 

 into the ground. j q Arthur 



Indiana Experiment Station, 

 Purdue University 



greek refinements in architecture 

 The existence of subtleties of line and 

 spacing in Greek architecture is now well 

 known. A very interesting point is how much 

 of the classic practise was lost in the Dark 

 Ages and how much preserved. The follow- 

 ing extract from " Evelyn's Diary " seems to 

 bear upon the point. It shows, at least, that 



