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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII, No. 952 



employees, but also a supervision of sanitary 

 conditions in offices and workshops and the 

 instruction of employees in hygiene. The 

 plan does not necessarily propose to furnish 

 medical attendance to employees, but it will 

 aid them in securing prompt and efficient 

 treatment. Arrangements will be made with 

 hospitals throughout the country for the 

 prompt reception of those who seek this kind 

 of treatment. It is believed by the companies 

 that this plan will be an economical advantage 

 to both parties. Dr. Alvah H. Doty, formerly 

 health officer of the port of New York, has 

 been appointed director of this department. 



With a view of elucidating the history of 

 native cotton, Mr. Frederick L. Lewton, of the 

 U. S. National Museum, has written a pamph- 

 let entitled " The Cotton of the Hopi Indians : 

 A New Species of Gossypium," forming pub- 

 lication No. 2,146 of the Smithsonian Miscel- 

 laneous Collections. The fact that cotton was 

 used and of necessity cultivated by the In- 

 dians, is recorded by several early Spanish ex- 

 plorers, as it has been more recently by many 

 ethnologists. In the villages of the cliff- 

 dwellers of Mesa Verde National Park nu- 

 merous fragments of cotton cloth have been 

 unearthed, and, in Utah, the seeds of the 

 plant itself have been found. To-day, among 

 the Hopi Indians of Arizona, the cotton plant 

 is highly esteemed, and its fiber enters into 

 many of their ceremonies, as well as into 

 many practical household activities. It is 

 considered essential by them that all strings 

 employed in religious services be of native 

 cotton. These strings of cotton are used to 

 bind together prayer sticks and offerings of 

 all kinds, and are placed in the trails enter- 

 ing the pueblos where ceremonial services are 

 in progress; the badges of the chiefs are all 

 wrapped with native rough-spun cotton 

 strings ; and cotton is also used to weave cere- 

 monial kilts, belts and wedding blankets. 

 Unfortunately the native Hopis, once deft in 

 the art of weaving blankets, mantles, rugs and 

 other articles from cotton, now find it far 

 easier to purchase either the yarn already 

 spun, the cloth already woven, or the complete 



garment, and thus the art is gradually being 

 lost. Cotton is still cultivated by them, how- 

 ever, to a small extent, in a village in the 

 western Navajo Eeservation and in another 

 of the Moqui. The Department of Agricul- 

 ture has carried on experiments with Hopi 

 cotton for the past seven years. This partic- 

 ular species of cotton is remarkable in the 

 rapidity with which it grows and the early 

 date at which it blooms, it being the earliest 

 to blossom of several hundred species put to 

 test. Plants of this species have borne ripened 

 bolls in eighty-four days from the sowing of 

 the seed. Following a pertinent discussion as 

 to the history and development of this par- 

 ticular sort of cotton, Mr. Lewton describes 

 botanically the distinguishing features of a 

 new species which he calls Gossypium hopi, 

 and which is illustrated by five plates showing 

 the growing plants, the flowers and the ma- 

 turing and ripe bolls. 



How the county " poor " farms of Wiscon- 

 sin are being utilized to convince farmers of 

 the advantages of up-to-date methods of agri- 

 culture, is explained by F. B. Morrison, as- 

 sistant to Dean H. L. Eussell, of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin College of Agriculture, in 

 the current number of the university's alumni 

 magazine. In 1909 the college of agriculture 

 instituted field demonstrations on several 

 " poor " farms. The most approved methods 

 of agriculture are put into practise on these 

 fields so that the farmers of the surrounding 

 country can see for themselves the results of 

 simple improvements over their own methods. 

 Each county farm is also made the center for 

 distribution of pure-bred seed grain, bred sci- 

 entifically at the college of agriculture. The 

 demonstration fields are located on main 

 traveled roads so that farmers passing by may 

 see the results during the entire growing 

 season. Farmers are always welcome at the 

 demonstration fields and are encouraged to 

 ask as many questions as possible. When the 

 demonstration crops are at their best an an- 

 nual demonstration picnic is held to which all 

 the surrounding farmers and their families 

 are invited. Sometime during the day of the 



