April 3, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



187 



seed-oats have given a larger yield than a larger quantity ; and 

 drilling has been followed by better crops than broadcast seed- 

 ing. An experiment-in steeping seed-oats in hot vrater indicates 

 that by this method the greater portion of the loss from the smut 

 of oats may be prevented. The process, briefly stated, is as fol- 

 lows : have two vessels, in one of which water is kept warmed to 

 about 130° F., and in the other to as nearly exactly 135° as possi- 

 ble. Have a basket of vs-ire netting, or a loose splint basket covered 

 ■with cloth. The water-baths must be large enough to admit this 

 basket. Fill the basket with seed-grain, and immerse it in the 

 ■cooler bath, keeping it there and stirring it around until all the 

 grains are warmed ; then lift it out and plunge it into the hot bath, 

 where it should reaiain from eight to ten minutes, being stirred 

 or agitated meanwhile. Then remove it and dip it into cold water, 

 _or spread the grain out and throw cold water over it, after which 

 dry it sufiSciently for sowing. The effectiveness of this method 

 depends upon having the water hot enough to destroy the smut 

 germs, which may be adhering to the outside of the grains of 

 oats, but not so hot as to destroy the oat germ. The reason for 

 using two vessels is, that if one vessel were used, the water would 

 be cooled too much by the cold grain to accomplish the purpose in 

 view, or, if it were heated hot enough to do this, it would be so 

 hot as to destroy the vitality of much of the grain. 



— The injury from hail in Wiirtemberg during the sixty years 

 1838-87 has been investigated by Herr Bilhler. As stated in 

 Nature of March 19, the yearly average of days with hail is 13; 

 and about .92 per cent of the cultivated land was affected, dam- 

 age being done to the extent of about $600,000. July had most 

 hail (34 days); June coming next, with 30.1 days. There is no 

 evidence of increase of hail in the course of decades. The Black 

 Forest district seems to have specially suffered. The author 

 makes out 17 paths of the hail-storms. One very often frequented 

 is that on the Danube, from Scheer to Ulm (70 kilometres long 

 and 15 broad). All the paths seem connected with the configura- 

 tion of the ground, and limited in many cases by quite low heights. 

 Slopes with a western exposure are more in danger than those 

 ■wiih. an eastern, and plains suffer much less than hilly ground. 

 The frequentl}' affirmed influence of forest on hail-fall is not dis- 

 tinctly proved by the Wiirtemberg data. Herr Hellmann has 

 made a further study of the figures, and finds that in Wiirtem- 

 berg, as in the Rhone Department and in Carinthia, the chief 

 maximum falls in the second half of July. A secondary one, 

 nearly as high, occurs June 30-34. Tliis holds also for Carinthia; 

 while in the Rhone Department this maximum is earlier, in the 

 first half of June. 



— We have received from the Johns Hopkins Press a pamphlet 

 containing "The History of University Education in Maryland," 

 by Bernard C. Steiner, and an account of the origin and organi- 

 zation of the Johns Hopkins University, by President Gilman. 

 Maryland has been very backward in providing for the higher 

 education, whether general or professional, and Mr. Steiner, there- 

 fore, is unable to present so interesting a histoi-y as would be 

 possible in some other States ; but his account is straightforward 

 and as minute as most readers will care for. President Gilman, 

 after paying tribute to the memory of Mr. Hopkins, proceeds to 

 explain more especially on what principles and with what objects 

 in view the institution over which he presides was organized. He 

 gives some account of the inauguration of the university, with 

 extracts from the speeches made on that occasion by himself and 

 by President Eliot of Harvard, and then briefly notes some of the 

 main points in the university's history. The prominence of the 

 graduate department is shown by the fact that from the first the 

 graduate students have been nearly twice as numerous as the un- 

 dergraduates, though in the last few years the undergraduates 

 have increased the fastest. 



— In answer to the query, " Do Americans love flowers?" the 

 Illustrated American says that the fact of the matter is, we are not 

 true lovers of flowers. We have imported the cult, and in time 

 may pose as fairly faithful worshippers as we have succeeded in 

 doing with respect to horses, dogs, and chickens. We overload 

 our dinner-tables with roses, the florists make our ball-rooms reek 

 with the stale smell of fading gardenias, our women decorate 



themselves with huge posies, and we pile wreaths upon the 

 coffins of departed friends. This is the love of display, not the 

 love of flowers. Look at the names our indigenous flowering: 

 plants bear. Nature has supplied us with a flora as rich as any in 

 the world. But, with the exception of the golden-rod, we have 

 not given our flowers names that have any pretence to being 

 poetical, — names which show that we take any interest beyond a 

 purely scientific one in the plants. That lovely yellow violet, 

 with its outside petals tinted a reddish brown, which clusters on 

 our Western foot-hills, is only known as the Viola Nuttallii. In 

 countries where the wild-flowers are really appreciated, the folk 

 would have found some more suggestive name, such as "forget- 

 me-not," " daisy," or "our lady's slipper." To whom, outside of 

 Boston, would Anemone patens suggest the large purple flowers 

 that beautify the rugged Rockies, or that Galoclwrtus venustus 

 was the lovely plant with crocus-like flowers that whitens the 

 plains ? And yet these are the only names they bear. 



— An interesting general statement of the characteristic features 

 of the entomological, and especially coleopterological, fauna of 

 the canton of Valais. comprising the upper valley of the Rhone, 

 will be found in Professor Ed. Bugnion's " Introduction to Favre's 

 Fauue des Coleopteres du Valais," now publishing in quarto form 

 in the memoirs of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences (vol. xxxi). 

 Mr. Bugnion, according to Psyche, divides the district into three 

 regions or zones, — the lower, the sub-alpine or forest, and the 

 alpine, — their highest levels respectively at 800, 3,000, and 3,700 

 metres. The sub-alpine he further subdivides into a lower forest, 

 whose upper limit reaches 1,850 metres, and an upper forest region, 

 the latter characterized by the prevalence of conifers and rhodo- 

 dendrons. These divisions, as he points out in a note, difl'er from 

 those of preceding authors, though not very greatly from the 

 latest authority. Heer in 1837, writing for the whole of Switzer- 

 land, made out seven zones, each 450 metres in height after the 

 field (campestre) which terminated at 300 metres. The succeed- 

 ing were the hill or colline, with an upper limit at 750, the moun- 

 tain (1,300), sub-alpine (1,650), alpine (3,100), subni vale (3,550), and 

 nivale (3,000). Rion in 1853 made four divisions as follows: 1. 

 Zone of cultivation, 375-1,363 metres; 3. Zone of conifers, 1,363- 

 3,050 metres; 3. Zone of alpine pasturage, 3,050-3,760 metres; 4. 

 Zone of eternal snow, 3,769 metres upward. Christ in 1883 also 

 made four divisions : 1. Lower zone up to 550 metres (700 in south 

 Switzerland; 3. Zone of deciduous trees, 550 (or 700)-l,350 metres; 3. 

 Zone of conifers, 1,350-3,100 metres (3,300 in central Alps) ; 4. Al- 

 pine zone, 3,100 (or 3,300)-3,000 metres (perpetual snow). Professor 

 Bugnion gives a larger number of groups of specific forms, mostly 

 Coleoptera, inhabiting two districts, or living under different con- 

 ditions, etc. , in illustration of their geographical distribution, and, 

 after discussing at some length the geological antiquity of insects, 

 endeavors to show from what sources the different elements of the 

 entomological fauna of Valais were directly derived. 



— The population of the city of Vienna, according to the Jour- 

 nal of the Society of Arts, London, is about 800,000, and, with the 

 suburbs and neighborhood, over 1,000,000. The consumption of 

 animal food in 1838 consisted of 77,513 cattle, 147,978 calves, 

 31,469 sheep, 37,105 head of lambs, kids, and sucking pigs, and 

 178,466 pigs.; of meat, 189,171 metrical quintals; of game, 3,377 

 deer, 871 wild boars; chamois and other game, 10,331 head; 

 hares, 301,331; pheasants, 37,048; pai-tridges, 113,778; of poultry, 

 898,968 pairs of fowls and pigeons; 485,775 pairs of geese, ducks, 

 turkeys, and capons; of iLsh and crayfish, 13,851 metrical quin- 

 tals; of butter, oil, and fat, 35,848 metrical quintals; of eggs, 

 83,750,000; honey, 694 metrical quintals; rice, 13,310 metrical 

 quintals; flour, 535,795 metrical quintals; bread, 176,437 metrical 

 quintals; wheat, 36,388 metrical quintals; legumes, 75,103 metri- 

 cal quintals; asparagus, 333 metrical quintals; cauliflowers, 4,198 

 metrical quintals; fruits, fresh, dried, or preserved, 356,533 metri- 

 cal quintals; liqueurs, 63,500 hectolitres; wine, 361,300 hectoliti-es ; 

 beer, 1,039,000 hectolitres. There were also kifled by the butch- 

 ers for food, 6,377 horses. The price of meat per kilogram (3i 

 pounds) was. beef, 18 to 66 kreutzer; pork, 32 to 83 kreutzer; 

 veal, 30 to 70 kreutzer; mutton, 30 to 60 kreutzer. The average 

 number of fat cattle arriving weekly was 4,765 head. 



