June 9, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



611 



tained larger quantities of the plant food 

 elements. Plants of the same species are 

 known to vary in analysis and plants of dif- 

 ferent analyses in our experiments were found 

 to have different water requirements. It ap- 

 pears that if the soil solution is weak the plant 

 transpires more water in its attempt to make a 

 normal growth. The larger number of stomata 

 on the leaves of plants with high water re- 

 quirements substantiate this. 



The results of cultivation are a different 

 plant growing in a different soil and requiring 

 less water per unit of weight. 



In the spring the soils of the humid regions 

 of the United States contain plenty of water 

 and it is general observation that the results 

 of cultivation (higher moisture in the, soil) do 

 not show up until periods of dry weather come. 

 In the fall there is again plenty of water, 

 under all systems of soil management. It is 

 the author's belief, based on experimental 

 results, that proper cultivation throughout the 

 season will allow the plants growing on good 

 soils to make their growth on enough less mois- 

 ture (early in the season) so that they can 

 keep on growing during periods of dry 

 weather on what may be called an accumula- 

 tive moisture reserve. 



The summary of the water requirement paper 

 in the Industrial Journal follows : 



The results of field and greenhouse experiments 

 recorded in the following paper indicate that fer- 

 tilization of a soil which responds to direct or 

 indirect fertilizer treatment allows the plants to 

 make their growth on a smaller amount of water 

 and to have a different composition from what 

 they otherwise would. 



The same effect is produced by cultivation, 

 which by opening up the soil increases bacterial 

 activity, which in turn gives increased concentra- 

 tion of the soil solution. 



Proper fertilization and cultivation minimize 

 dangers to crops from drought injury in humid 

 regions of the United States by having the plant 

 go into the drought period with an accumulative 

 reserve of soil moisture. 



This work opens up the study of fertilization 

 . from the basis of water requirement. 



H. A. Notes 

 Mellon Institute of 



iNDUSTELiL RESEARCH 



THE COPPER ESKIMOS 



I RETURNED in the autumn of 1921 from six 

 consecutive years in the arctic regions. Three 

 of these were spent for purposes of geographic 

 and ethnogTaphic study among' the Copper Es- 

 kimos. I am now engaged upon wi'iting up the 

 results of that investigation, but, as there is no 

 prospect of getting this printed before at least 

 one year, I want to make a preliminary an- 

 nouncement about certain results of my archeo- 

 logical and ethnological work. 



Previous to 1912, the eastern known limit of 

 pottery among the Eskimos was Point Bar-row 

 (cf. Murdoek on the Point Barrow Eskimos). 

 Stefansson's work of the years 1908-12 ex- 

 tended the known pottei-y area eastward some 

 sis or seven hundred miles to Cape Parry, and 

 he found it there in the most ancient ruins, 

 indicating- that pottery has been used by the 

 Eskimos for centuries and perhaps by the ear- 

 liest Eskimos who occupied that counti-y. 



Jenness has published the results of his two 

 years spent among the Copper Eskimos (Be- 

 port of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913- 

 1918, -Vol. XII, published by the Department 

 of the Naval Service, Ottawa). In this he does 

 not mention pottery, which would indicate that 

 he found none to the east of Cape Parry. In 

 excavating various sites I have found pottei'y 

 fragments as far east as Point Agiak, just west 

 of Gray's Bay, or about 80 miles east of the 

 Coppermine. This extends the known pottery 

 territory some 400 miles east beyond Stefans- 

 son's results. Like Stefansson, I found the 

 pottery deep down, indicating that it had been 

 in use probably several centuries ago and per- 

 haps by the earliest Eskimos. The implements 

 associated with the pottery were of undoubted 

 Eskimo type. 



Previous to 1910 houses of earth and wood 

 had not been reported from the western arctic 

 coast of Canada further east than Pierce Point. 

 Stefansson in his journeys along the coast the 

 spring of 1910 and again the summer of 1911 

 found the ruins of earth and wood houses as 

 far east as one/ mile east of Crocker River. 

 In an appendix to Jenness' report (cited above) 

 we learn that since his retxu'n in 1916 Captain 

 Joseph Bernard, who entered the Copper Es- 



