January 28, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



115 



relatively greater than the change in tem- 

 perature. We have here, then, the principle 

 upon which climatology should be worked 

 out.. Given a plant whose pedigree and 

 habits of growth are well known, and a 

 daily range in temperature from 65 to 70 

 degrees, what range of moisture in the soil 

 can the plant stand? what relative hu- 

 midity ? wind velocity ? and what intensity 

 of sunshine? "With a certain amount of 

 sunshine, what temperature, humidity, 

 moisture and wind velocity are necessary 

 to maintain the favorable conditions of 

 growth ? This is climatology, and there is 

 no reason why the approximate relation of 

 these elements should not be worked out 

 for different classes of plants and for differ- 

 ent periods of their growth. The florist 

 knows how to control these conditions to 

 produce the development he desires or to 

 mature the plant at any time. He does 

 this by watching the plant itself, using the 

 thermometer merely as an indicator of the 

 changes he makes iu the temperature. It 

 is intuition on his part which he can not 

 explain. It is a matter of experience and 

 observation which he can not impart to 

 others. If the meteorologist should ob- 

 serve and record these changes by his in- 

 strument as the florist is observing and 

 controling the development of his plants it 

 should be possible to express the relation 

 of the climate in language which could be 

 imparted to others. This applies also to 

 field culture. 



One encouraging thing in this conception 

 of climate is the fact that through cultiva- 

 tion we may very materially control the 

 water supply of the soil. As this is an 

 essential element of climate, we have then 

 the power of modifying the climate of any 

 locality to a considerable extent. 



As the relation shown in the above equa- 

 tion is between certain functions rather 

 than between the values as expressed in our 

 ordinary meteorological tables, the equation 



should be written in still more general 

 terms. Furthermore, the conditions favor- 

 able for one class of plants are not favorable 

 for others, and the conditions favorable for 

 the growing period of many of our crops are 

 not favorable for the ripening period. The 

 general equation should then be written as 

 follows, the Greek letters standing for cer- 

 tain functions of the elements of which we 

 do not as yet know the values : 



(1) 



i>{- 



/ m f>w \ = . 



Vr(A)A(to). 



where s = intensity of sunshine ; t = tem- 

 perature ; V = velocity of the wind ; h = 

 relative humidity ; w = soil moisture ; and 

 h = the constant conditions favorable for 

 plant growth. Equation (1) may repre- 

 sent the conditions favorable for the vege- 

 tative or growing period and equation (2) 

 the conditions favorable for the ripening or 

 fruiting period. The values for some of 

 the elements may be the same in both equa- 

 tions or they may all be different. 



Climatology is thus shown to be the rela- 

 tion between the meteorological elements as 

 measured by the development of the plant. 

 Milton Whitney. 



Department of Ageicultuee. 



THE AGE OF THE ABTIFACT-BEABINQ SAND 

 AT TRENTON. 



On three different occasions during the 

 past summer I examined the deposits on 

 the Lalor farm at Trenton, in which numer- 

 ous artifacts have been found. So far as 

 my observation goes, nothing was seen to 

 prove that they were not in situ. In all 

 cases noted they were found with longer 

 diameters horizontal, i. e., in the position 

 they would naturally occur if their age is 

 the same as that of the sand in which they 

 are found. No positive evidence was noted 

 that the sand had been so disturbed that 

 they might have been intruded from above. 



