378 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 32. 



what expensive as an experiment ; and that is the light 

 in which it is regarded by many horse-railroad man- 

 agers at present. 



Improved method of spraying trees for pro- 

 tection against insects. 



BY C. Y. EILEY OP WASHINaTON, B.C. 



The paper gave a summary of results obtained 

 from experiments made during the past two years at 

 the XJ. S. department of agriculture. An ordinary 

 barrel is used as a reservoir, in which is inserted a 

 force-pump with automatic stirrer. A long rubber 

 hose extends from the pump, and is attached to the 

 spraying apparatus. The nozzle has been called 

 the cyclone or eddy nozzle; its action carries out new 

 principles of spraying. It is a sliallow, circular, 

 metal chamber, with two flat sides, in the centre of 

 one of which is a small circular outlet. The fluid is 

 forced into this chamber tangentially, producing 

 rapid rotation, and a spray which is easily regulated 

 from a mist scarcely visible to a strong shower. This 

 nozzle is adjusted to the end of a bamboo rod (of 

 varying length, according to requirement), througli 

 which tlie rubber hose has been passed; or several 

 nozzles may be attached, in different positions, to the 

 sides of a stifE metal tube, sufficiently slender to 

 be handled by the operator, and thrust among the 

 branches of the tree. By these means, trees from 

 twenty to thirty feet high can be rapidly sprayed 

 witliout the use of a ladder. The substances used 

 are either London purple, one-lialf pound, and flour, 

 one pound, in from forty to fifty gallons of water; or 

 Paris green, one pound, to the same amount of flour 

 and water; or petroleum emulsions made as Profes- 

 sor Riley indicated at the last meeting of the associ- 

 ation. 



Enhancement of values in agriculture by rea- 

 son of non-agricultural population. 



BY J. B. DODGE OP WASHINGTON, D.C. 



The paper begins by showing that national indus- 

 try is prosperous in proportion to its diversity. Tlie 

 productions of agriculture would be unsalable if all 

 the people were agricultural producers. A civilized 

 nation, with the smallest proportion of non-agricultu- 

 ral workers in it, will be low in the scale of prosperity : 

 with the largest proportion of non-agriculturists con- 

 sistent with proper food-supply, the nation will be 

 most prosperous. To a great extent, tliis is true also 

 of the subdivisions of this country. It may be illus- 

 trated by the statistics of geographical sections that 

 embrace groups of states, or by comparison of indi- 

 vidual states. The author is even prepared to show, 

 that, in a partly agricultural community, the increased 

 employment of labor in industries that are non-agri- 

 cultural stimulates improvement, compels higher 

 culture, and makes the products of land, and the land 

 itself, more valuable. Such is the theory. In sup- 

 port of it, the author adduces striking facts, obtained 

 by compilation from U.S. census returns of 1880. 



The states and territories are grouped for this com- 

 parison in four classes, which are thus designated: 



first class, having less than 30 per cent of agricultural 

 workers; second, having over 30 and less than 50 per 

 cent; third, having .50 and less than 70 per cent; 

 fourth, having over 70 per cent, i.e., being almost ex- 

 clusively agricultural states. 



In the first class are Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in the east, 

 and some of the mining states and territories of the 

 west, diverse in many points, yet alike in the fact of 

 a large non-agricultural population. This class has 

 only one-sixth of the population in agriculture. The 

 fourth class consists of North and South Carolina,- 

 Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It has nearly 

 four-fifths engaged in agriculture, on lands worth 

 only an average of $5.28 per acre. The states having 

 only two-fifths in agriculture have farm-lands valued 

 at S22.21 per acre, while those having nearly three- 

 fifths in agriculture have lands valued at $13.03. 

 These figures speak for themselves, and scarcely need 

 comment from the author. 



When individual states are compared, the results 

 are equally marked. The author compares pairs of 

 states, — Virginia and Pennsylvania, Kentucky and 

 Ohio, Iowa and Illinois, — as follows {for convenience 

 we place these comparisons in tabular form) : — 



Similar computations give figures for the State of 

 New York not widely different from those for Penn- 

 sylvania. The average value of farm-lands per acre 

 in New Jersey is greater than in any other state, viz., 

 .16.5.16: this is owing to a position between two great 

 city markets, with proximity and easy access to 

 both. Her percentage of agricultural workers is only 

 14.92; their average annual wages are $.501. It will 

 he seen tliat the wages of agricultural labor are sub- 

 ject to the same law. If computed for the first table 

 in this paper, the wages per month of the agricultural 



^ The annual ■vvages of agricultural lahor in Minnesota are 

 $376. 



