May I, 1891,] 



SCIENCE. 



241 



tions. It seems not unlikely that the greater part of the 

 meteorological perturbations of our globe will be found 

 closely connected with such transient inequalities in the sun's 

 activity. 



Some of the factors concerned seem, however, more adapted 

 to produce secular oscillations in the sun's evolution of heat, 

 extending through periods like the thousands of years proba- 

 bly occupied by the glacial age, and by the antecedent age of 

 arctic warmth. 



The one impossible thing would seem to be that the con- 

 flict of all those struggling and discordant forces should 

 generate such an equalized and perfected balance in their 

 resultant, that the sun's emission of light and heat should 

 continue uniform and undisturbed from age to age; that it 

 should not, indeed, from time to time be subject to very great 

 fluctuations. In this view of the question, it seems not un- 

 reasonable to claim at least a place of high consideration for 

 this hypothesis among other unverified hypotheses of the 

 cause of the glacial period. 



It may be claimed in favor of this hypothesis that it serves 

 to account for the antecedent age of arctic warmth, as well 

 as for the glacial age. Dr. Croll's hypothesis wholly failed 

 in this respect. Nor, as it occurred not earlier than the 

 pliocene, can it be attributed to conditions belonging to the 

 carboniferous period. 



As an objection to the solar hypothesis, it has been alleged 

 that a diminution of solar heat would forbid the evaporation 

 required to supply a precipitation of snow adequate to form 

 glaciers. To this it may be replied that existing glaciers, 

 like that of Greenland, are by no means supplied from the 

 copious evaporation of the tropics, which is all precipitated 

 in the neighboring latitudes. They are fed from the far 

 lesser evaporation of the neighboring open seas, including 

 the extremities of the Gulf and Kurasiwo currents. It is 

 estimated that a general reduction of temperature of 18° to 

 20° F. over the earth's surface would produce the glacial 

 period. Even with such a reduction in the sun's supply of 

 heat, a large evaporation would continue, as well as air and 

 ocean currents distributing the reduced warmth. The neces- 

 sarily resulting changes would not involve a suspension of 

 evaporation and precipitation, but rather a transfer of the 

 areas of glaciation from the arctic to the temperate zone, 

 such as actually took place in the glacial age. 



Sereno E. Bishop. 



THE CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR-BEET IN OHIO. 



" Faemees' BfLLETlN No. 3" of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture is an abridgment of a monograph on the sugar- 

 beet, recently compiled by Professor H. W. Wiley, chemist of the 

 department. 



Judging from European experience, it seems probable that the 

 culture of the sugar-beet in America will be most successful within 

 the limits of a belt of about one hundred miles on each side of the 

 summer isotherm of 70° ; that is, a line marking an average tem- 

 perature of 70° for the months of June, July, and August. In 

 Ohio this line follows approximately the southern shore of Lake 

 Erie, so that the northern third of the State is included within the 

 belt named. 



The summer temperature is not the only climatic question that 

 must be considered, however; as, for instance, the mOd winters of 

 southern California permit the piling of the beets in immense 

 heaps, requiring no protection, or, at most, but a slight covering 

 of straw, and thus extending the working season throughout the 

 winter; whereas in northern Ohio the beets would have to be 

 pitted or housed in expensive cellars or silos. Again, the California 

 winter gives a season of three or four months during which plant- 

 ing may be done, or three times as long as in northern Ohio. 



The soil most favorable to the culture of sugar-beets is one that 

 is easily worked, and is fertile enough to produce rapid growth. 

 The moderately sandy soils, and especially the black sands of 

 northern Ohio, will probably be found well adapted to beet-culture. 

 The fertile bottom-lands of the farm occupied by the experiment 

 station at Columbus produce large crops of beets. Stiff, heavy 

 clays will not be found satisfactory, as a rule, unless thoroughly 

 underdrained and brought up to a high state of fertility by pre- 

 vious manuring and the growth of clover. 



The variety of beet is an important point, but a yet more im- 

 portant one is the care with which the seed has been selected. In 

 France and Germany the percentage of sugar in the beet has been 

 very greatly increased by improvements in the production of seed. 



The manufacture of sugar from beets involves the use of very 

 expensive apparatus, and requires great technical skill. In 113 

 Grerman factories the mean capital invested in each factory is 

 nearly two hundred thousand dollars; and the total expense of 

 manufacture is nearly eight dollars per ton, counting the beets at 

 a little less than five dollars per long ton. The experience of the 

 Ohio Experiment Station is, that, on suitable soils, beets can be 

 raised at this price with a very wide margin for profit. 



The bulletin referred to contains illustrations of machinery used 

 in beet-culture, and many other interesting items which cannot 

 be condensed into a brief abstract. The station has received a few 

 copies of this bulletin for distribution in Ohio, and will take 

 pleasure in sending them free of all costs to all applicants, while 

 the supply lasts. Address Experiment Station, Columbus, O. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



An exhibition of all the means of advertising will be held at 

 the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Champ-de-Mars, Paris, from May 17 

 to Sept. 15. 



— For a year past, the crater of Halemaumau, in the volcano of 

 Kilauea, Hawaii, has been in a state of high activity, the lava 

 frequently pouring out through ducts upon the main floor of 

 Kilauea. On March 5 sinking began, attended with slight 

 earthquakes, extending into the neighboring district of Kau. By 

 the 8th the collapse was complete. The interior cone, with the 

 adjacent fire-lakes, had sunk out of sight; and the entire area of 

 Halemaumau, over half a mile in diameter, is now occupied by 

 a pit estimated at five hundred feet in depth. It was just five 

 years after the last and similar collapse. As then, no fire is now 

 in sight. Some fissure has opened in the side of the main column 

 of lava, and discharged the contents under ground. It is perhaps 

 not a mere coincidence that on Marcli 4 the mercury in Honolulu 

 reached the lowest point on record, 48°. The extreme cold of 

 March 10 in England will be noted in this connection. A fuU re- 

 port of the condition of Kilauea is expected from Professor Brig- 

 ham, who is now on the ground. 



— The forthcoming May number of the Review of Reviews con- 

 tains, under the title "Three Empire Builders," some timely 

 character sketches. One deals with Sir Henry Parkes, prime 

 minister of New Soutb Wales, the father of Australian federation, 

 and chairman of the great constitutional convention wbich has 

 just concluded its labors at Melbourne. Another deals with Sir 

 John Macdonald. The third sketch has the Hon. Cecil Rhodes 

 for its subject, Mr. Rhodes being the gifted young Englishman 

 who, a few years ago, went out as a consumptive student from 

 Oxford to regain his health in Africa, and who has been conquer- 

 ing a new empire for Great Britain with Capetown as its capital. 

 Among the special features of the May number will be found an 

 article entitled " Worbingmen's Clubs vs. The Bar-Eoom." 

 " The Progress of the World," an editorial department of the 

 Revieic of Reviews, contains in the May number a map of Austra- 

 lia showing the newly federated provinces, several maps showing 

 the covu-se of the new Nicaragua Canal, and various portraits. 



— At a meeting of the trustees of the Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity, held April 6, 1891, the president of the university stated that 

 a lady in New England had authorized him to offer the university 

 the sum of five hundred dollars, to be bestowed in annual prizes 

 during the next ten years, under the following conditions ; the 



