June 12, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



327 



part in the witch's sabbat. When a Walloon maiden wishes 

 to refuse a suitor with contumely, she gives him a cat, and tells 

 liim to count its hairs. It is generally believed in France that a 

 bachelor who treads on a cat's tail will find no woman to marry 

 him till a full year has passed by. In Germany, in England, and 

 in France many a religious /(ife of the middle ages culminated in 

 pitching a cat ofE a height or into a bonfire. Indeed, as recently 

 as 1818 a decree was issued at Ypres, in Flanders, forbidding the 

 throwing of a cat oflf a high tower in commemoration of a Chris- 

 tian festival. Fontenelle told Moncrif that be had been brought 

 up to believe that not a single cat could be found in town on the 

 eve of St. John's, because they all went on that day to the witches' 

 sabbat. It is readily intelligible from this why the people on 

 that day threw into the fire all cats that were foolish enough to 

 be caught. They actually believed that in doing so they were 

 ridding the country of sorcerers. 



— That the possibilities of agriculture in all parts and altitudes 

 of Wyoming may be fairly tested, the trustees of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station of that State have established experiment 

 farms in several different places. The west-central portion and 

 the altitude of 5,500 feet above sea-level are represented by the 

 Lander experiment farm of 137 acres, under irrigation, in Fremont 

 County. The Laramie plains and the altitude of 7,000 feet are 

 represented by the Wyoming University experiment farm of 640 

 acres, irrigated, in Albany County. The North Platte valley and 

 the altitude of 6,000 feet are represented by the Saratoga experi- 

 ment farm of 40 acres, Carbon County, irrigated. The northern 

 part of the State and the altitude of 4,000 feet are represented by 

 the Sheridan experiment farm of 50 acres, under irrigation, in 

 Sheridan County. North-eastern Wyoming, with the greatest 

 rain-fall and the altitude of 4,500 feet, is represented by the Sun- 

 dance experiment farm of 49 acres, to be carried on without irri- 

 gation, in CrOok County. South-eastern Wyoming, the Sybille 

 ■valley, and the altitude of 5,000 feet, are represented by the Wlieat- 

 iand experiment farm, irrigated, in Laramie County. As the re- 

 port of the Governor of Wyoming for 1889 shows that four-fifths 

 of the State is between the altitudes of 4.000 and 8,000 feet, it is 

 evident that the farming and grazing lands of Wyoming are now 

 well represented. As soon, however, as the funds will permit, it 

 is intended that other experiment farms will be established. 



— Bulletin No. 14 of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion is devoted to a report on experiments with corn made in 1890. 

 In these experiments a trial of deep and shallow tillage gave an 

 increase of over fourteen bushels per acre, or twenty-one per cent 

 of the entire yield, in favor of shallow tillage in 1889, and nearly 

 thirteen bushels, or thirty per cent of the yield, in 1890. The im- 

 plement used for shallow tillage was made expressly for this ex- 

 periment, and has a number of knives running an inch or more 

 under the surface, loosening the soil and effectually destroying 

 weeds in its path, but not lifting the soil sufficiently to cover the 

 weeds in the hill unless quite small. The Illinois Experiment 

 Station at Champaign has made similar experiments, in which the 

 average increase in favor of shallow culture was nearly eight 

 bushels per acre over a period of three years. The Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station has conducted similar experiments, using a cultiva- 

 tor not so well adapted to the purpose as the one described, but 

 with results also in favor of shallow tillage. The Missouri bulletin, 

 already quoted, also reports a series of experiments instituted for 

 the purpose of determining the most profitable amount of culture 

 for corn. The results of these experiments, and they are in har- 

 mony with similar tests made at the experiment stations of Illi- 

 Bois, New York, and Ohio, indicate that nothing is gained by 

 cultivating incessantly. If the weeds are kept down and the 

 ground is cultivated sufBciently to prevent a hard crust forming, 

 two or three workings will produce as large a yield as half a 

 dozen. 



J — Recent experiments in the laboratories of the Johns Hopkins 



|. University have shown that in one "gi-am of loamy soil there are 



i| 3,740,000,000 particles. To the surface of each of these minute 



I) particles a thin film of moisture adheres by capillary attraction. 



' j The tips of the rootlets of plants have the power to absorb this 



II hygroscopic water with the substances it holds in solution. The 



spaces between the particles of soil should be filled with air. If 

 filled with water the plant will be killed by drowning. These ex- 

 periments are of special interest in Wyoming, where soggy soil is 

 rare, and the thickness of the film of moisture on the soil particle 

 is the vital problem. Further experiments in the laboratories 

 named have shown tiiat certain alkalies have the power to thicken 

 and retain the film of moisture on the soil particle. Experiments 

 with these chemicals are being tried on the University experi- 

 ment farm and grass fields of Wyoming, under the direction of 

 Dice McLaren, in the hope of good results to the arid soils of that 

 State. Gypsum and many other crystals have the property of 

 absorbing and retaining vast amounts of moisture. It is probable 

 that the rootlets of plants have the power to absorb this water of 

 crystallization. Besearches on this point are in progress at the 

 station. Among the subjects used are ground gypsum and cal- 

 cined gypsum. In moist climates gypsum is used as a reagent to 

 set free the potash, nitrates, and phosphates in the soil. In the 

 dry climate of the West gypsum may be found to have the further 

 merit of absorbing water in wet times and of retaining it for the 

 use of plants in dry times. In this connection experiments will 

 be tried at the station with many native phosphates, nitrates, and 

 other fertilizers, and with the waste products of glass and soda 

 works. 



— The other day, says Nature of May 28, Professor Vambery 

 delivered in Edinburgh, under the auspices of the Royal Scottish 

 Geographical Society, an interesting lecture on British civilization 

 and influeuces in Asia. He had many pleasant things to say about 

 England, but did not quite overlook her shortcomings. He said 

 he was immensely struck by the indifference shown by the public 

 at large to every thing that concerned Asia. He had lectiu:ed in 

 more than twenty towns in England, and found, even among 

 the middle classes, great ignorance in regard to Asiatic geography 

 and ethnography. Asiatic languages, moreover, were greatly 

 neglected. Germany, which had not got any territory in Asia, 

 bestowed far greater attention upon the old world than Eng- 

 land. He opined that if the interest in Asia would increase in 

 England commensurately with its political power and influence 

 over the various races in Asia, Britain would decidedly remain 

 there a permanent power which could never be ousted by any 

 rival. He thought that there ought to be more schools for oriental 

 languages in England. There was a general supposition that 

 Britons in general could not learn foreign languages, but that was 

 not true. The greatest linguists of our age had been British, as, 

 example. Lord Strangford for Tiurkish, and the late Sir Richard 

 Burton and the late Professor Palmer for Arabic. Then there 

 were scholars like Sir James Redhouse, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Sir 

 William White, and many others, bearing evidence of the brilliant 

 linguistic capacity of the British. He believed that nothing could 

 be easier than to recruit in England a goodly number of oriental 

 linguists for employment in various Asiatic countries. 



— In a communication to the New York Sun, not long since, 

 Mr. George F. Kunz, the well-known expert in gems, called atten- 

 tion to a property of the diamond which may serve as a means of 

 distinguishing it from other substances. Referring to the paper 

 of Robert Boyle "On a Remarkable Diamond that Shines in the 

 Dark," published in the "Transactions of the Royal Society "' in 

 1663, Mr. Kunz remarks that this paper has been indirectly alluded 

 to by a number of authors, but never read. Among a number of 

 other facts, Boyle mentions one diamond that phosphoresced sim- 

 ply by the heat of the hand, absorbed light by being held near a 

 candle, and emitted light on being rubbed. He stated that many 

 diamonds emitted light by being rubbed in the dark. The experi- 

 ments made by Mr. Kunz show conclusively not only that Boyle's 

 statement that some diamonds phosphoresce in the dark after ex- 

 posure to the sunlight or an arc electric light is true, but also that 

 all diamonds emit light by rubbing them on wood, cloth, or metal, 

 a property which will probably prove of great value in distinguish- 

 ing between the diamond and other hard stones, as well as paste, 

 none of wliich exhibit this phenomenon, and will be welcomed by 

 the general public who do not possess the experience of the dealer 

 in diamonds. The property is evidently not electric, or it would 

 not be visible on being rubbed on metal. 



