278 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 398. 



pastures and abandoned lands in Massachu- 

 setts and New Hampshire, to learn the condi- 

 tions under which reproduction takes place. 

 The Bureau is making this investigation in 

 order to be able to give owners of such lands 

 directions as to the best methods of handling 

 them, with a view of securing a stand of pine 

 by natural seeding. A field party of six men 

 is studying the same problem in Oklahoma, 

 in connection with the hardwood growth which 

 composes the timber belts of that region. It 

 has been found in certain places in the middle 

 west that natural forest belts have extended 

 up streams as much as two miles in the last 

 twenty-five years. Particular attention will be 

 paid to devising methods for extending and 

 ■ improving the forest growth of the Wichita 

 Forest Reserve, where at present the stand of 

 timber consists of only a scattering growth 

 of oak. A similar study is being made on the 

 Prescott Forest Reserve in Arizona, where the 

 stand of timber consists almost entirely of 

 Western yellow pine. For several years only 

 a scant reproduction has taken place on this 

 reserve, and one of the objects of the present 

 investigation is to devise means of increas- 

 ing the stand of young timber. 



Among the important economic studies now 

 being conducted by the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey in the region east of the Mis- 

 sissippi River is the investigation of the coal 

 field within the first district in southwestern 

 Indiana, the results of which will appear be- 

 fore the close of the year. The area covered 

 to date embraces nearly 1,000 square miles, 

 and includes portions of Pike, Gibson, Vander- 

 burg, Warrick, Spencer and Dubois counties. 

 The Survey has prepared unusually accurate 

 topographic maps, showing not only the 

 houses, highways, railways, town and county 

 boundaries, and drainage .features, but also, 

 by means of contours, the heights and shapes 

 of the hills. The geologic maps, which are 

 being prepared by Messrs. M. L. Fuller and 

 George H. Ashley, will show the outcrop of 

 the 'big' or Petersburg coal vein from near 

 the "White River to the vicinity of the Ohio. 

 Its approximate elevation above sea level will 

 be shown both along its outcrop and beneath 



the surface, giving a basis from which its 

 depth below the surface can be calculated at 

 any point. The locations of the mines are 

 also shown. The outcrop of the smaller coal, 

 designated 'No. 7' by the Indiana State Sur- 

 vey, which occurs above the Petersburg coal, 

 will be shown in the same manner, as will also 

 some of the coals beneath the latter. The 

 maps will be accompanied by an account of 

 the geologic history of the region, by descrip- 

 tions of a number of important drainage 

 changes, and by a detailed description of the 

 character and structure of the rocks, especially 

 of the coal. The maps described are the first 

 installment of a series which will later be ex- 

 tended westward into Illinois and southward 

 into Kentucky. 



The United States Geological Survey has 

 recently completed a study of the oil fields 

 of California, which of late years have be- 

 come so important an economic feature of 

 that State. The investigation was conducted 

 by Mr. George H. Eldridge, one of the geol- 

 ogists of the Survey, who is now engaged in 

 the preparation of a report. This report, 

 which will later be available to the public, 

 will contain information of interest regarding 

 the geologic conditions governing the occur- 

 rence of oil in the California district. Dur- 

 ing the year Mr. Eldridge will also complete 

 a report on the phosphate deposits of Florida, 

 upon which a portion of his time has recently 

 been spent. 



Mr. Geokge F. Lincoln, Consul-General of 

 Antwerp, writes to the Department of State 

 that the Cartographic, Ethnographic and 

 Maritime Exposition was opened to the public 

 on May 22. The Royal Geographical Society 

 of Belgivim has obtained for the purposes of 

 this exhibition the assistance of the French, 

 Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Mexican Gov- 

 ernments, and in addition the Queen has sent 

 many interesting objects from her private col- 

 lections. The exliibition of ancient and mod- 

 ern charts, atlases, maps, globes and projec- 

 tions is perhaps the most interesting that has 

 ever been brought together, and is particularly 

 notable for its fine specimens of the works of 

 Mercator, Ortelius, Blaeu,Hondius and the val- 



