Juke 19, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



897 



as far as possible, in the botanical instruction of 

 students in the School of Botany, of Washing- 

 ton University. 



AGEICULTUEE IN GREAT BEITAIN. 



The report of the British Board of Agricul- 

 ture for 1895 is summarized in a recent issue of 

 the New York Evening Post. It appears that 

 the extent of woodlands in Great Britain is 

 2,726,000 acres, of which 132,000 acres have 

 been planted in the last fifteen years. During 

 the last year there has been a gain of about 80, 

 000 acres. The most striking figures relate to 

 the shrinkage in the amount of laud under the 

 plough, which was increased by the unpro- 

 pitious character of the autumn seed time of 

 1894 and early spring of 1895. More than 510, 

 000 acres less of wheat were grown, and 57,000 

 acres less of minor grain crops, rye, beans and 

 peas. One-fifth part of the surface withdrawn 

 from these crops or from wheat was devoted to 

 barley and oats ; but the corn land of 1895 was 

 less by nearly 455,000 acres than that of 1894, 

 while weather conditions, checking the prepara- 

 tion of the customary area for turnips and other 

 green crops, caused a further reduction of 112, 

 000 acres under this cultivation. The surface 

 under potatoes, small fruit, lucerene and flax 

 was larger by 45,000 acres, and the acreage left 

 under bare fallow was extended by nearly 100, 

 000 acres. The net reduction of arable land 

 was 197,000 acres, and the net addition to the 

 permanent pasture a little over 145,000 acres. 

 The actual loss of arable area in the last two 

 decades is 2,137,000 acres. The reduction of 

 wheat-growing alone accounts for most of this 

 loss. Under this head there was a total dim- 

 inution of more than 1,900,000 acres between 

 1875 and 1895. More than a third of the de- 

 cline in the arable area, and more than half of 

 this reduction in wheat acreage, occurred in the 

 last five years of the twenty. Statistics are 

 given also of the imports of agricultural produce 

 during the last twenty years. In value, the 

 totals for 1895 exhibit increased imports of 

 dead meat, poultry, eggs and lard. Live ani- 

 mals and dairy produce show slightly lower 

 total values. Wheat and flour importations 

 during the year amounted to more than £30, 

 000,000, as against £26,755,000 in 1894, while 



other grain imports were reduced. The value 

 of live animals imported represented £8,966, 

 000, as against a total of £9,090,000 in 1894. 

 The average animal importations has been 

 more than £8,500,000 for the last teu years. 



, GENERAL. 



De. David Stare Joedan, President of 

 Stanford University, has been appointed Presi- 

 dent of the Sealing Commission, which will go 

 to Alaska on the steamer Albatross to study the 

 sealing question. Drs. Leonhard Stegueger 

 and F. A. Lucas, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, will accompany him. On the part of the 

 government of the Dominion of Canada Mr. 

 Andrew Hackett of the Fisheries Department, 

 Professor MacGoun of the Geological Survey, 

 and Professor Darcy Thompson, of Dundee, 

 have left for British Columbia, on the way to 

 Bering Sea. 



The expedition of M. Andree embarked on 

 June 6th from Gothenburg for Spitzbergen, 

 from which place the expedition will proceed 

 in the balloon. 



Lieutenant Peaey, before starting on his 

 expedition to the north coast of Greenland, has 

 gone to England, his main purpose being to 

 present an account of his important explora- 

 tions in northern Greenland to the Poyol Geo- 

 graphical Society. 



Mlle. Klumpke, known for her work at the 

 Paris Observatory, has been elected a member 

 of the British Astronomical Association. 



De. Leopold Dippel, director of the Botani- 

 cal Gardens at Darmstadt, and professor of bot- 

 any in the Technical High School, has retired. 



A valuable collection of animals and birds 

 of Palestine, and of Roman coins, is offered for 

 sale by Dr. Selah Merrill, of Andover (for many 

 years United States Consul at Jerusalem). 



The Council of the British Medical Associa- 

 tion has received an invitation to meet at Mon- 

 treal in 1897. 



The Lancet states that a surgeon in the 

 United States navy reports that in Japan among 

 1200 soldiers 1.58 per cent, were red blind, and 

 0.833 per cent, green blind. Among 373 boys 

 1 per cent, were red blind, and among 270 girls 

 0.4 per cent. Among 596 men in Kyoto 5.45 



