May 8, 1896.] 



SCIENGE. 



699 



manure increases the scab, probably because 

 alkaline. On the other hand, oxalic acid 

 tends to reduce the scab. It is thought 

 that anything which reduces the acidity of 

 the soil will increase the scab. The scab 

 fungus seems to multiply in the soil when 

 the potato crop is not present. Upon acid 

 soils practical immunity from scab has been 

 secured for three years. Upon acid land 

 potatoes free from scab may be grown if no 

 barnyard manure is used. 



CHERRIES. 



Under the above short title Prof. Bailey 

 and Mr. Powell have prepared a bulletin 

 (No. 98 Cornell University Experiment 

 Station) , giving among other things the clas- 

 sification of cherries under the horticultural 

 groups ; namely sours, amarelles and morel- 

 los, sweets, mazzards, hearts, begarreaus and 

 dukes, and then the botanical grouping. 

 There are two species, namely. Primus cer- 

 asus L., the sour cherries, and P. avium L., 

 the sweet cherries, with three well-marked 

 varieties under the latter species. 



Cherry growing is a neglected industry. 

 The tree likes a rich loamy soil with fre- 

 quent cultivation. The worst enemy is the 

 curculio, and jai-ring the trees will save 

 many cherries. For the rot spraying with 

 Bordeaux is recommended. The bulletin 

 is illustrated with several engravings of 

 fruits made from photographs of subjects 

 natural size. 



CURRANTS. 



New York State can boast of two Experi- 

 ment Stations, one, the older, at Geneva, 

 and the other at Ithaca. Both have their 

 number of issues in the nineties, while, for 

 example, ISTo. 98 of the Cornell University 

 Station is upon cherries, briefly mentioned 

 in the previous paragraph, the No. 95 of 

 the New York Station deals with currants. 

 Prof. Beach, in this, informs the readers 

 that the testing of varieties of currants be- 

 gan at Geneva in 1882 with eleven sorts. 



Now there are forty under study and this 

 exclusive of seedlings. It is shown that of 

 the red sorts the Prince Albert is the 

 largest bearer, it averaging nearly nine 

 pounds per plant. The White Dutch is the 

 most productive of the white sorts. But it 

 seems from the bulletin that quantity is not 

 everything, for healthfulness of bush, ship- 

 ping quality and flavor of the berry must 

 all be considered. One sort may be too 

 watery for profitable jelly making or have 

 a skin too thick for jam, etc. The reader 

 of these bulletins upon fruits is led to im- 

 agine that the stationists practice all the 

 phases of the culinary art in order to pass 

 judgment upon their subjects. 



Byron D. Halsted. 

 New Brunswick, N. J. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 SOUTH AMERICAN LINGUISTICS. 



Dr. Eodolfo Lenz continues his valuable 

 contributions to the study of the Arauca- 

 nian stock by the publication of a series of 

 dialogues in the Picunche dialect. His 

 presentation and analysis are fully up to the 

 requirements of modern scientific linguis- 

 tics. His article appears in the 91st vol- 

 ume of the ' Anales de la Universidad de 

 Chile.' 



The tireless student of the Argentinian 

 languages, Samuel A. Lafone Quevedo, pub- 

 lishes in the 16th volume of the ' Boletin 

 del Institute Geographico Argentine ' an 

 essay of over forty pages on the Vilela or 

 Chulupi language of the Chaco. His ma- 

 terial is mainly from the works of Hervas, 

 Adelung and Pelleschi. The results he 

 reaches confirm the statement of afiinities 

 between the Lule and Vilela tongues which 

 I advanced iri my ' American Race,' p. 313 

 (1891). That these related dialects should 

 be classed with the Pacific or Andean 

 tongues on account of their suffix forma- 

 tions and personal pronouns, is not j'et suf- 

 ficiently demonstrated. 



