Septembeb 25, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



405 



The condition on September 1, with com- 

 parisons, of the various crops investigated by 

 the Bureau of Statistics of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture is as follows: 



Crops 



Corn 



Spring wheat.. 



Oats 



Barley 



Buckwheat .... 



Tobacco 



Flaxseed 



Eice 



White potatoes.. 

 Sweet potatoes , . 



Tomatoes.. 

 Cabbage . . . 



Onions 



Beans 



Apples 



Peaches ... 

 Grapes 



Watermelons . 

 Cranberries . . 



Oranges 



Lemons 



Sugar cane. . 



Sorghum 



Sugar beets . 



Broom corn 



Hemp 



Hops 



Peanuts , 



Cotton (August 25) , 



Alfalfa (production) ... 



Cloverseed (Acreage 

 compared with pre- 

 ceding year, per cent.] 



Cloverseed (condition) 



Millet 



Kaiir corn 



Hay, yield per acre, tons 

 Hay, yield, tons (000 



omitted) 



Hay, quality 



Eye, yield per acre, bu. 

 Eye, yield, bu. (000 



omitted) 



Eye, quality 



Stock hogs, No. com- 

 pared with preceding 

 year 



Stock hogs, condition... 



79.4 

 77.6 

 69.7 

 81.2 



87.8 



84.3 

 82.5 

 93.5 

 73.7 

 88.7 



82.5 

 80.3 

 85.8 

 82.8 

 52.3 



67.5 

 84.6 

 74.1 

 80.8 

 67.7 



88.2 

 92.9 

 91.3 

 85.5 

 86.0 



76.6 

 73.0 

 79.3 

 86.0 

 76.1 



90.7 



120.0 

 89.7 

 86.9 

 85.1 



1.52 



67,743 

 94.5 



50,921 

 92.7 



92.5 

 94.5 



80.2 

 77.1 

 65.5 

 78.5 

 77.4 



82.5 

 85.4 

 87.0 

 80.2 

 85.7 



82.9 

 85.2 

 88.0 

 82.7 

 34.7 



30.7 

 81.1 



76.3 



77.7 



84.1 

 91.4 

 94.1 

 82.4 

 92.4 



82.8 

 85.9 

 88.5 

 85.6 

 72.7 



91.8 



99.6 

 76.5 

 84.4 

 83.1 



1.45 



63,677 

 90.4 



31,566 

 91.6 



10.06 

 19 



81.0 

 77.9 

 30.7 

 83.5 

 86.5 



83.7 

 87.0 



85.3 



53.0 

 83.0 



15.8 



82.5 

 80.7 

 76.8 

 83.1 

 89.4 



85.8 

 86.1 

 94.6 

 82.9 



84.5 

 84.5 

 88.4 



52.2 



67.1 

 87.1 

 70.6 

 79.5 



89.1 

 93.0 

 88.3 

 85.4 

 87.3 



80.3 

 77.4 

 86.4 

 85.5 

 83.0 



89.7 

 86.3 



The following facts were taken by Vice- 



consul James L. A. Burrell, of Magdeburg, 

 from a brochure by Dr. Ernst Friedrich, of 

 the German commercial high school at Leip- 

 zig: The world's lumber trade amounts to 

 $285,600,000 annually, of which the United 

 States furnishes about 20 per cent, Austria- 

 Hungary 19 per cent., Russia 16 per cent., 

 Canada 13 per cent., Sweden 18 per cent., Fin- 

 land 10 per cent., Norway 4 per cent, and 

 Eoumania also a small quantity. The coun- 

 tries importing wood are those on the highest 

 economical plane, which were themselves in 

 earlier times densely wooded, but whose for- 

 ests have been denuded to a greater or less ex- 

 tent to make room for agriculture, industry, 

 etc. Only 4 per cent, of the territory of Great 

 Britain is covered with forests, and during the 

 year 1906 that country imported lumber to the 

 value of $135,561,750. Germany has still 26 

 per cent, of its territory covered by forests, 

 but imported in 1906 lumber valued at $61,- 

 285,000. Belgium and the Netherlands, that 

 have but 8 per cent, forest lands, Denmark, 

 that has 7 per cent., France and Switzerland, 

 with a small percentage of forest land, are 

 compelled to import lumber. Besides these 

 countries, those lands lying on the dry western 

 side of the subtropical zone lacking forests 

 are forced to import wood. Egypt imports 

 wood and coal to the value of about $16,660,- 

 000 annually; Algeria, Tunis, Spain, Portu- 

 gal (3 per cent, forest land), Italy, Greece 

 (with 9 per cent, forest land), the eastern 

 part of Asia, British South Africa, the west- 

 ern parts of Chile and Peru, the Argentine 

 Eepublic and Australia, all poor in wood, are 

 dependent upon import. 



The Eoyal Commission on Sewage Dis- 

 posal, appointed by the British government in 

 1898, has issued its fifth report, which deals 

 chiefly with the relative merits of the various 

 methods which are available for the purifica- 

 tion of sewage of towns. The commissioners 

 have held 144 meetings and called before 

 them a large number of witnesses. A number 

 of local authorities have carried out experi- 

 mental investigations in association with the 

 commission, the members of which have per- 

 sonally inspected a large number of sewage 



