April 2S, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



457 



ill the starchy central core of the typha rhizome 

 was shown by A. P. Claassen, who estimated 

 that one acre would yield a total dry weight of 

 10,792 . pounds of cat-tail rhizomes, or more 

 than two tons of flour, made from the central 

 core. 



Typha may be used as a substitute for high- 

 priced corn. It would seem that the best time 

 for feeding would be in the fall and winter, as 

 the starchy content is likely to be highest then. 

 L. E. Feeudenthal 



Rosalie Fasm, 

 Las Cruces, New Mexico 



SOIL SHIFTING AND DEPOSITS 



Mr. Peteeson^s article on deposition of soil 

 in the Palouse area of eastern Washington 

 and Idaho, which appeared in Science^ Janu- 

 ary 27, 1922, should prove of interest and 

 value to foresters as well as agriculturists in 

 this region. The questions naturally arise: 

 How far is this soil carried into the Bitter- 

 root mountains, and how does it influence the 

 character of the soil and vegetation within the 

 forest areas? The writer's oljservations in this 

 respect may be of interest in this connection. 



Dust storms, commonly referred to as 

 "Palousers," are of comparatively frequent 

 occurrence throughout northern Idaho and 

 northwestern Montana. They accompany high 

 winds from the west and southwest; they are 

 well known and despised by housekeepers in 

 Kalispell, Missoula, Thompson Falls, Libby 

 and all surrounding towns. The dust pene- 

 trates into every house and office. When ac- 

 companied by rain the window panes and 

 buildings are besmirched with streaks of red 

 soil. One of these storms in March, 1917, laid 

 down on the snow within the timbered region 

 of northern Idaho about 600 pounds of dust 

 per acre. The dust from that storm hung on 

 the trees, even at 6,000 feet elevation, along 

 the Kootenai-Priest Divide throughout the 

 summer of 1917. Settlers say that dust storms 

 are common along the Cceur d'Alene, St. Joe 

 and Clearwater rivera. 



The writer has noted ,the billowy soil sur- 

 face, unmistakably due to surface shifting of 

 the soil, as far east as Pierce, Idaho, about 



eighty miles east of Moscow. The soil is un- 

 usually deep and fertile and the vegetation is 

 more profuse, with better growth of timber, 

 over the larger portion of the Clearwater For- 

 est in Idaho than occurs on the forests farther 

 north or on the forests of western Montana. 

 It is of interest to note that the Clearwater 

 forest lies directly in the path of the strong 

 west winds from the arid parts along the 

 Columbia River, and that Lewis and Clark, 

 as early as 1806, called attention to the un- 

 usually deep and seemingly fertile soil in the 

 Clearwater basin. 



These observations lead to the supposition 

 that the accumulation and shifting of soil on 

 the Palouse area have been effective in pre- 

 venting natural establishment of the forest here 

 in the past, though climatic records indicate 

 that the area should grow western yellow pine; 

 and they strengthen the belief that the un- 

 usually good gi'owth of timber, profuse vegeta- 

 tion, and deep soils on certain parts of the 

 western slopes of the Bitterroot mountains 

 ill Idaho, are due partly to the fact that soil 

 is carried in by the westerly winds from lava 

 plateaus along the Snake and Columbia rivers. 



J. A. Larsbn 

 Missoula, Montana 



QUOTATIONS 



AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE 

 Theeb is an increasing demand among scien- 

 tific men for international agreement as to the 

 choice of a universal auxiliary language. Aft6r 

 a long struggle, many of the fundamental tools 

 of thought have been unified. All nations now 

 use the same system of numbers, Arabic 

 numerals, measurements of latitude and longi- 

 tude, mathematical symbols, chemical formulae, 

 and, at least in science, the metric system. 



But language, the master-key to thought and 

 the vehicle of communication, remains under 

 the curse of Babel. Were it possible by acquir- 

 ing a second language in addition to the natal 

 language to convey ideas to fellow-workers in 

 every part of the world and to receive their 

 ideas; one of the greatest barriers to the prog- 

 ress of science would be broken down. Time 

 and money would be saved, overlapping of 



