234 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 8. 



EARLY INSTITUTIONS. 

 Our early economic history. — Professor Meit- 

 zen of Berlin reviews von Stein's ' Brei fragen des 

 grundbesitzes,' and takes occasion to say a great 

 •deal that is interesting upon the land-qxiestion and 

 the past history of land-holding. One or two points 

 may be noted here. Had we space, we should note 

 other points. The article is signiiicant in many ways. 

 Von Stein makes collective possession and owner- 

 ship of land the starting-point of our economic de- 

 velopment; but Prof. Meitzen says, what is certainly 

 true, that, so far back as the time of Tacitus, private 

 property in land existed everywhere. This property 

 consisted regularly of hides, what the Germans call 

 hu/eii. Attached to these hides were shares or rights 

 in the undivided land, — the ahnend. The hides 

 were divisible in the early time. It was during the 

 feudal period that they came to be indivisible. With- 

 out doubt the land was common, oj)en to every- 

 body, during the period of migrations,— the nomad 

 period; but this condition of things did not last long. 

 The land in one place supports only a limited number 

 ■of animals. A large number cannot graze together. 

 Separate districts were accordingly assigned to sepa- 

 rate herds, or several small herds together. These 

 Jierds would belong to different families. While some 

 of these families grew rich and powerful, others grew 

 poor and weak. The latter were driven from their 

 lands, or reduced to dependence and servitude. Then, 

 as there were dependents and slaves to do the work, 

 agriculture arose. Hides were assigned to the cul- 

 tivators, which were the property of their respective 

 lords. It is probable that the undivided common land 

 was at this time subject to appropriation. Every man 



could have, therefore, as many hides as he \^anted. 

 It was at a later time, probably, that the common 

 land became subject to communal regulations. This 

 is Prof. Meitzen' s theory, as we understand it. It is 

 certainly a great advance on the old theory of primi- 

 tive equality and communism. Prof. Meitzen says, 

 " Es ist also allgemeine gleichheit der alten G-ermanen 

 eben so fabel wie allgemeine freiheit." — {Jahrb. 

 nationalokon. stat., Jan. 13.) d. w. k. [528 



Land-holding in Damaraland. — C. G. Bvittner 

 describes how the land is free to everybody ; how the 

 individual appropriates as much of it as he pleases, 

 wherever he pleases, provided he does not, in so 

 doing, trespass upon land already appropriated. 

 There are no boundaries between one man's land 

 and another's; only it is generally considered wrong 

 to enter upon land that has been brought under cul- 

 tivation by another. The chief wealth of the people 

 consists of flocks and herds, which are driven about 

 from place to place by the owners or the herdsmen. 

 Family life is patriarchal. Slavery exists in a mild 

 form. " Whatever a man puts his hands upon, that 

 is his private property." The writer, or his transla- 

 tor, calls this communism ! — ( Pop. sc. monthl. , March, 

 1883. From Ausland. ) D. w. E. [529 



Slavery in Europe. — M. Fournier gives us a 

 long article upon the liberation of the slaves in 

 western Europe between the fifth and thirteenth 

 centuries. He considers the parts taken by the 

 church and state respectively in tills movement, and 

 concludes that the church was far less instrumental 

 in bringing about the abolition of slavery than has 

 been generally supposed. — {Rev. hist, Jan.-F^v., 

 1883.) D. w. K. [530 



INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC STATIONS. 



PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS. 



New-Tork agricultural experiment station, Geneva, N,T. 



Variahility of maize. — Were the different forms of 

 ■ear-corn, raised from seed of uniform appearance, 

 «hown to one not acquainted with the variability of 

 maize under hybridization, the collection would be 

 referred to many varieties, and perhaps to several 

 species. Even to one who has made a study of the 

 subject, there is a constant series of surprises. As a 

 slight contribution to the subject of the hybridization 

 of corn, I note the following forms as gathered from 

 a small plat planted with fine, uniform-appearing seed 

 ■of ' podded ' corn from an unknown source. 



This podded corn is that curious variety wherein 

 ■each kernel, as well as the whole spike, is surrounded 

 by a husk. It is known under various names; such 

 as, husk corn, Paraguay corn, Texas corn, wild corn, 

 Oregon corn, etc. The variety planted showed a yel- 

 low, dent, elongated kernel, each kernel husked, and 

 of a uniformity which suggested an extreme purity 

 or fixity of type. 



The crop harvested yielded: 1°. Tassel-corn, — some 

 of the kernels heavily, otliers slightly husked, and 

 others bearing, in all but size, a most striking resem- 

 blance to sorghum-seed, both in shape and structure, 

 and the husk changed to a glume; 2°. Ears with ker- 

 nels uniformly and lightly husked; 3°. Ears in which 

 the kernel-husk has increased in abundance and length 

 on successive ears, until at last the husk predominates 

 over kernels; 4°. Ears of husked grain, the rows 

 arranged in pairs, the apex of the husk of each of the 



rows of each pair facing inward; .5°. Some husked 

 ears, but the kernel-husks pure white in some speci- 

 mens, tinged with red in others ; 6°. Fastigiate ears, 

 i.e., a whole mass of ears, each ear occupying the 

 position of a kernel on the cob, and arranged parallel 

 to each other; 7°. Unhusked corn, — red cob, yellow- 

 ish-white dent kernel, with a sprinkling of sweet-corn 

 kernels through cross-fertilization; 8°. A dark pur- 

 plish-red ear of unhusked corn, — adentcorn, mingled 

 with some dark-red kernels of sweet-corn. 



Variations equally surprising have occurred with 

 us from a fine-appearing white ' pearl ' pop-corn used 

 as seed. From the crop, we selected nine ears, any one 

 of «vhich might well be referred to a distinct variety. 

 Some of the ears formed ' rice-corn,' or the kernels 

 mucronate ; other ears had the smooth, round, stony 

 grain of the pearl varieties ; other ears had taken on 

 the appearance and size of a field flint-corn. The 

 colors varied from white, through the buffs, to yellow, 

 and from light red to dark red, forming, in the nine 

 specimens, nine different colors or shades. The num- 

 ber of rows also differed, and the size and shape of 

 ear. 



In habits of growth, some varieties of corn bear the 

 ears on the nodes quite low down, others on the higher 

 nodes; but no variety, so far as numerous observa- 

 tions extend, bears ears on the five upper nodes of 

 the plant. Yet in individual variations a perfectly 

 husked ear is borne on the first node from the tassel; 

 and even four well-husked ears have been found 

 borne grouped around this first node. 



While, normally, ears are produced from the axil of 



