October 25, 1889.] 



SCIENCE 



283 



— Attempts to prevent the formation of smoke have hitherto 

 mainly had reference to the grate or furnace. Recently there has 

 been exhibited in London a method in which the coal before use is 

 treated chemically, by a process the details of which we have not 

 learned, but which results in no deterioration of the heat-producing 

 qualities pf the coal, while it prevents its burning with an excess of 

 smoke. The coal seems to be hardened by this process, which is 

 said to cost not more than twelve cents a ton. 



— Professors L. H. Daily, E. S. Goff, and W. H. Green were 

 appointed at the last meeting of the Association of Agricultural 

 Colleges and Experiment Stations to report on the nomenclature 

 of kitchen-garden vegetables. In their report, just issued by the 

 Department of Agriculture, and summarized in Garden and 

 Forest, after stating that a name is bestowed upon a plant solely 

 for the purpose of designating, and not for describing it, the com- 

 mittee lay down the following rules : l. The name of a variety 

 should consist of a single word, or at most of two words. A 

 phrase, descriptive or otherwise, is never allowable ; as, " Pride of 

 Italy," " King of Mammoths." " Earliest of All." 2. The name 

 should not be superlative or bombastic. In particular, all such 

 epithets as " New," " Large," " Giant," " Fine," " Selected," " Im- 

 proved," and the like, should be omitted. If the grower or dealer 

 has a superior stock of a variety, the fact should be stated in the 

 description immediately after the name rather than as a part of the 

 name itself; as, "Trophy, selected stock." 3. If a grower or 

 dealer has procured a new select strain of a well-known variety, it 

 shall be legitimate for him to use his own name in connection with 

 the established name of the variety ; as, " Smith's Winningstadt," 

 " Jones' Cardinal." 4. When personal names are given to varie- 

 ties, titles should be omitted; as, " JVIajor," " General," " Queen.'" 

 5. The term "hybrid " should not be used, except in those rare in- 

 stances in which the variety is known to be of hybrid origin. 6. 

 The originator has the prior right to name the variety ; but the 

 oldest name which conforms to these rules should be adopted. 7. 

 This committee reserve the right, in their own publications, to re- 

 vise objectionable names in conformity with these rules. 



— The following description of the way in which floating fields and 

 gardens are formed in China is from an article by Dr.. Macgowan, in 

 the China Review : " In the month of April, a bamboo raft, ten to 

 twelve feet long and about half as broad, is prepared. The poles 

 are lashed together with interstices of an inch between each. Over 

 this a layer of straw an inch thick is spread, and then a coating 

 two inches thick of adhesive mud taken from the bottom of a canal 

 or pond, which receives the seed. The raft is moored to the bank 

 in still water, and requires no further attention. The straw soon 

 gives way, and the soil also, the roots drawing support from the 

 water alone. In about twenty diys the raft becomes covered with 

 the creeper Ipomcea replans, and its .stems and roots are gathered 

 for cooking. In autumn its small, white petals and yellow stamens, 

 nestling among the round leaves, present a very pretty appearance. 

 In some places marshy land is profitably cultivated in this manner. 

 Besides these floating vegetable-gardens, there are also floating 

 rice-fields. Upon rafts constructed as above, weeds and adherent 

 mud were placed as a flooring ; and when the rice shoots were 

 ready for transplanting, they were placed in the floating soil, which 

 being adhesive, and held in place by weed-roots, the plants were 

 maintained in position throughout the season. The rice thus 

 planted ripened in from sixty to seventy in place of a hundred days. 

 The rafts are cabled to the shore, floating on lake?, pools, or slug- 

 gish streams. These floating fields served to avert famines, whether 

 by drought or flood. When other fields were submerged, and 

 their crops rotten, these flo.ited and flourished ; and when a drought 

 prevailed, they subsided with the falling water, and, while the soil 

 around was arid, advanced to niaturiiy. Agricultural treatises 

 contain plates representing rows of extensive rice- fields moored to 

 sturdy trees on the banks of rivers or lakes which existed formerly 

 in the lacustrine regions of the Lower Yangtsze and Yellow 

 Rivers." 



— A method for coating porcelain with platinum is described as 

 follows : The porcelain is first covered with platinum chloride to 

 which a little hydrochloric acid has been added. It is then ex- 

 posed in a muffle to a temperature of i, 000°- 1,200" for twenty 



minutes. This operation [is repeated till a sufficient [coating is 

 secured. 



— President D. C. Gilman has gone abroad for an absence of 

 some months. While he is away. Professor Ira Remsen will act 

 as president of Johns Hopkins University. 



— At the close of the Paris exposition the Belgian exhibits will 

 be mainly transferred to London, where they will form part of a 

 Belgian exhibition to be opened next year. It is to be feared, if we 

 may judge from the emptiness of the Spanish exhibition in London, 

 that this special exhibit may not prove financially successful. 



— In Sweden, which boasts being the fatherland of modern ex- 

 plosives, a considerable amount of time and attention is constantly 

 given to experiments in this direction ; and an engineer, Mr. J. W. 

 Skoglund, has recently invented a new explosive, which so far, ac- 

 cording to Engineering , has given great satisfaction. It is called 

 "gray powder" (Swedish grakrut), and has during the summer 

 been tested at Rosersberg Gunnery School, in addition to which it 

 will be further tested in the course of the present month by a spe- 

 cial commission, and to a considerable extent for comparison with 

 a Belgian powder called poitdre de papier. It has also been ac- 

 cepted for trials at the fleet. According to the official reports, the 

 gray powder has been used with 25-millimetre as well as with 

 Nordenfelt's machine guns. The former has, with 70 per cent of 

 the new powder against 100 per cent (or the usual charge) of ordi- 

 nary powder, given a 33 per cent greater initial velocity, without the 

 pressure in the gun being increased more than 5 per cent. With 

 62 per cent (ordinary charge weight) of gray powder, the initial 

 velocity was increased with 24 per cent without any perceptible in- 

 crease in pressure. With a charge of 74 per cent (ordinary charge 

 weight) the initial velocity was increased 40 per cent, without the 

 gun being subject to any undue pressure. With regard to the im- 

 portant question of smokelessness, the report states, that, while 

 with Nordenfelt's machine-guns smoke of ordinary powder remains 

 for twenty-five seconds, the gray powder only leaves a transparent 

 steam, which is only visible for five seconds. 



— It is satisfactory to learn, on the authority of M. Gulisham- 

 baroff, that there is not the slightest ground for the absurd rumor, 

 set in circulation by the acting consul at Batoum, that the Baku 

 oil-supply had begun to show signs of exhaustion. M. Gulisham- 

 baroff is the chief petroleum adviser of the Russian Government, 

 and recently has been conducting an investigation into the oil- 

 industry of this country, in conjunction with Mr. Marvin. Having 

 only just arrived from Baku, after one of his regular official visits, 

 he is in a position to speak with authority on the position of affairs 

 in that quarter, irrespective to that general knowledge of the Baku 

 industry, from the earliest time of its European development, which 

 has resulted in the publication of so many books on the subject. 

 So far from there having been a " cave-in " of the supply, says 

 Engineering, there has really been a " shut-down " of a large num- 

 ber of wells, to check a wasteful over-production. Instead of 500, 

 only 200 wells have been at work this autumn. Moreover, in order 

 to put a stop to the waste of oil on the surface, the Russian Govern- 

 ment has been lately discouraging the commencement of new wells 

 outside the present limit. Administrative action of this sort has 

 long been advocated by Marvin and other nqn-Russian writers, as 

 well as by Russians themselves. It is no uncommon thing for a 

 native of Baku to tap a supply of 20,000,000 gallons of oil, and 

 waste 19,000,000 out of it, simply from want of foresight in pro- 

 viding a cap for the well, or by the omission to arrange for surface 

 storage. Waste of this character has become such a scandal that 

 to check it the authorities now seize a well that is not properly 

 managed, and empower the neighboring well-owners to gag the 

 supply at the culprit's cost. In view of the rapid increase in the 

 demand for petroleum, it is a satisfaction to know that Baku is as 

 prolific of oil as ever. The oil-trade is rapidly assuming such 

 gigantic proportions that for many a year there will probably be 

 ample room for America, Russia, and Burmah, as well as for the 

 minor fields that will in time furnish a supply for the world's 

 market. But, in any case, petroleum ought not to be wasted as it 

 has been at Baku, and it will be a good thing for Russia when the 

 more careful and economical methods of America are adopted in 

 the Caspian region. 



