124 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 604. 



best grade, "which has been sterilized by heat- 

 ing, without unrolling, in the dry oven about 

 four hours at 150° C, is unrolled and placed 

 in a tin pail, the pail having been sterilized 

 by rinsing in boiling water, and the culture 

 poured over it. The cotton is thoroughly 

 saturated with the culture solution, by press- 

 ing and squeezing it with the hands. It is 

 then hung up in the culture room, where it 

 is nearly free from foreign organisms, and 

 allowed to dry, drying taking place in twenty- 

 four to forty-eight hours. It is then stored 

 in pasteboard boxes in the laboratory until 

 ready for use. Other methods for inocula- 

 ting and drying have been attempted, but thus 

 far they have been unsuccessful." 



In a recent repetition of our experiments 

 in Petri dishes as detailed in Bulletin 2Y0 it 

 was found that the inoculated cotton under 

 such circumstances becomes air dry in ap- 

 proximately twenty-four hours. Accordingly 

 it is seen that the method of preparation em- 

 ployed by the Bureau of Plant Industry not 

 only is practically identical with that enj.- 

 ployed by the commercial company above de- 

 scribed, but also the rate of drying is prac- 

 tically the same as that in our Petri dish ex- 

 periments in which the germs placed upon the 

 cotton died promptly. 



Our own examinations of the bureau cotton 

 is limited to six packages. While the num- 

 ber of packages is small, it is significant that 

 from none of these packages did we succeed 

 in isolating a single specimen of P. radicicola 

 although some of the packages were repeatedly 

 examined. Similar laboratory tests of a num- 

 ber of packages of bureau cotton were made 

 at the agricultural experiment stations in 

 Delaware and North Carolina with similar 

 negative results. The results of pot and field 

 tests at the agricultural experiment stations in 

 Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Georgia, Maine, New 

 York (Cornell) and Wisconsin as published 

 fail to show any well-marked results from the 

 use of inoculated cotton furnished by the 

 bureau. Two other stations, Michigan and 

 Virginia, have kindly furnished us with a 

 summary of like unpublished tests which are 

 also negative. 



Although such may exist it is a surprising 



fact that thus far we have not learned of a 

 single experiment conducted at one of the 

 many state agricultural experiraent stations 

 where the inoculated cotton put out by the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry has given good re- 

 sults. 



The marked exception to this wide record of 

 failure is furnished by Bulletin 71, Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. When considering the favor- 

 able reports there presented we are forced to 

 conclude that an explanation is to be looked 

 for largely in the psychological, rather than in 

 the biological, realm. 



When we consider the methods of prepara- 

 tion, storage and shipment employed by the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry as described by 

 Sprague in connection with the data upon the 

 effect of slow drying and moist air as given by 

 Messrs. Kellerman and Beckwith, an utter fail- 

 ure of the bureau's cultures was the only re- 

 sult which could be logically expected. 



H. A. Harding. 



New York Ageiculttjbal Expebiment 

 Station, May 2, 1906. 



QUOTATIONS. 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



Dr. Gustav Loisel, who is a professor of 

 zoology in the Sorbonne, is making persistent 

 efforts to have the menagerie in the Jardin des 

 Plantes adapted to the needs of experimental 

 science. He would have it so transformed as 

 to become a school of zoological research with- 

 out at the same time ceasing to be a place of 

 entertainment for the people. Such a plan 

 has been partly carried out in Bronx Park, so 

 that certain fauna are permitted to live and 

 breed almost as if they were in 'the wild.' 

 The experimental stations in this country 

 where marine animals and plants may be 

 studied have proved of the highest value to 

 science; and the laboratory in connection with 

 the Naples Aquarium has long been a favorite 

 resort for naturalists. Two of Dr. Loisel's 

 suggestions are not likely to meet with popular 

 approval. One is to do away altogether with 

 the monkey house, which he says is infected 

 with tuberculosis, and the other is to diminish 

 the number of the more formidable wild ani- 

 mals to make room for beasts whose habits 



