200 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVIIl. Nc. 453 



forms were found varying somewhat from the typical forms of 

 the same species on the mainland ; while it was interesting to find 

 that the arboreal ?hort-eared opossum had changed his habits so 

 far as to feed on the leaves of the eucaljpt, and to keep to the 

 ground. 



— M. de Groot of the Dutch Colonial Government in the East 

 Indies has made an interesting communication to the Geographi- 

 cal Society of Amsterdam on the subject of Chinese emigration, 

 which is brietiy quoted in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographi- 

 cal Society for September. According to the writer, the causes 

 of this emigration are not to be found in the excess of population, 

 but simply in the poverty of the soil of the provinces whence these 

 emigrants come. It is the bare, mountainous valleys of the eastern 

 part of China which furnish the emigrants to the English, Span- 

 ish, and Dutch colonies; to California, Australia, and especially to 

 Indo China and Cochin-China. The prevailing formation of the 

 ground in their native regions is granitic; the soil yields hardly 

 anything, and the rainfall is slight. Potatoes and vegetables of 

 very bad quality are the only food that can be extracted from the 

 earth. In some favored spots a little rice, but of a poor descrip- 

 tion, can be grown. Another cause of the emigration is disafforest- 

 ation. Wood is very scarce, and consequently very dear. Vege- 

 tation being almost entirely plucked up, the formation of a new 

 layer of humus is absolutely impossible. The population of these 

 regions is therefore compelled to seek subsistence in other coun- 

 tries. The writer is of opinion that as soon as China sets herself 

 in earnest to construct a network of railways and to carry out 

 other great works, the stream of emigration, which is causing so 

 much anxiety in many parts of the world, will be stopped, as the 

 people will find in the interior of their own country the work and 

 means of livelihood which they now seek for elsewhere. 



— The Illinois experiment station is located at Champaign, on 

 a black prairie soil, upon which fertilizers, except barn-yard ma- 

 nure, have failed to produce any increase in wheat. The follow- 

 ing experiments, made on soils of a different character, are re- 

 ported by Professor Morrow in a recent bulletin of the station : 

 For three years past experiments with commercial fertilizers on 

 wheat have been tried at points farther south than the station 

 grounds. For 1890-91 the trials were made on the farms of W. W. 

 Bowler, Flora; A. M. Woodward & Co., Odin; Chas. Stephani, 

 ISTashville; and Fred. Helms, Wilderman, near Belleville. These 

 are all not far from latitude 38° 30', and, except the last-named, 

 on the level light-colored soils characteristic of that region. Mr. 

 Helms's soil is darker colored and naturally very fertile. Mr. Bow- 

 ler's land had been in grass from 1883 to 1888. In 1889 it pro- 

 duced about ^orty bushels of corn per acre. In 1890 it was sown 

 to oats, but the crop failed. The land at Odin had been thrown 

 out of cultivation until 1889, when it produced a fair crop of corn. 

 In 1890 it was sown to oats, which failed to produce a crop. The 

 land at Nashville had been in cultivation about forty years — in 

 corn in 1883 and 1884, oats in 1885, wheat in 1886, oats in 1887. 

 wheat in 1888 and 1889, and in oats in 1890 Mr. Helms's land 

 had been cultivated by him twenty-two years without manure. 

 It was in wheat on clover sod in 1889-90, and yielded about thirty 

 bushels per acre. In each case, except at Flora, nine plats two by 

 twenty rods, containing one-fourth of an acre each, were used. 

 To plat 1 in each case fiv^e wagon-loads of barnyard manure were 

 applied, and 100 pounds of glue-factory superphosphate to plats 3, 

 4, 6, 7, and 9. The barnyard manure and superphosphate were 

 applied befoi-e sowing. In each case the land had the treatment 

 usual in the region in preparing for wheat. The wheat was sown 

 with a drill about Sept. ao, 1890. The winter was favorable for 

 the crop. When visited at the last of April, as well as at harvest 

 time, the effect of the barnyard manure in stimulating growth 

 was very apparent; that of the superphosphate, less so. The wheat 

 was carefully harvested and threshed from the shock, except at 

 Flora, where Mr. Bo'wler was compelled to put it in stack and 

 thresh Aug. 30. Mr. Helms estimates that his crop was damaged 

 one- fifth or more by plant lice. The wheat at Nashville was 

 measured; at the other places, weighed. It was all of good 

 quality. The average results are given as follows: At Flora, 30 loads 

 manure, 35.47 bushels wheat per acre; 400 pounds superphosphate. 



17.83 bushels wheat; unfertilized, 19.71 bushels wheat. Odin, 20 

 loads manure, 25.47 bushels wheat; 400 pounds superphosphate, 

 1985 bushels wheat; unfertilized, 19.64 bushels. Nashville, 30 

 loads manure, 38.00 bushels; 400 pounds superphosphate, 16.00 

 bushels; unfertilizerl, 10.00 bushels. Belleville, 20 loads manure, 

 40.70 bushels; 400 pounds superpho.sphate, 39.85 bushels; unfer- 

 tilized, 36.65 bushels. 



— While the International Marine Congress was in session in 

 Washington in 1889, the question was raised as to the proper 

 power of the running lights used by vessels of the merchant ma- 

 rine. No agreement could be reached, as the Congress was with- 

 out accurate knowledge as to the intensity of the lights proposed. 

 It has been decided that the side-lights of a vessel under way, 

 which should be red on one side and green on the other, ought to 

 be sufficiently powerful to be seen two miles, while the white top 

 lights should be seen five miles. The Light-House Board was for- 

 mally requested to ascertain the needed intensity of the proposed 

 lights by actual experiment. The board therefore appointed a 

 committee of five, consisting of two light- house inspectors, who 

 are respectively a captain and a commander in the United States 

 navy, two light-house engineers, who are respectively a major and 

 a captain of the Corps of Engineers in the United States army, 

 with a member of the Light-House Board as its chairman. The 

 committee did its work by making actuil tests at night, running a 

 steamer at Gardiner's Bay, Long Island Sound, over a measured 

 course, and sighting from various known distances, white, red, 

 and green lights, the actual intensity of which had been deter- 

 mined by photometric measurement. This committee of specialists 

 was attended by a stafi' of experts to put and keep the apparatus in 

 thorough order. Two nights, each of a different character as to 

 clearness, were spent in making these experiments, and two tabular 

 statements showing actual and accurate results have been prepared. 

 The result is that all the tests have been averaged, the personal 

 equation of the observers has been eliminated, and a full report of 

 the results attained has been made. From this it appears, stated 

 in brief, that to be practically seen in fairly clear weather for five 

 miles, a white light must have an intensity of thirty candle power, 

 and that red and green lights to be seen two miles must each have 

 a power of forty candles. 



— A recent report by the United States consul at Martinique 

 gives some details concerning the hurricane at that island on Au- 

 gust 18. He states that early on that morning the sky presented 

 a very leaden appearance, decidedly threatening, with occasional 

 gusts of variable winds, mostly from the east-north east. The 

 temperature was very oppressive during the entire day. The ba- 

 rometer varied only slightly, but was a little higher than usual 

 until afternoon, when it commenced to fall, at first gi'adually and 

 then very rapidly. The storm struck the east side of the island 

 at about 6 p.m., rushing through the ravines with terrible force, 

 and destroying every thing in its path. On the elevated plains 

 the ruin was most coinplete. One very peculiar feature of the 

 hurricane was the deafness experienced by every one during the 

 storm, possibly the result of the reduced barometric pressure. 

 During the cyclone the wind veered from east-north-east to south- 

 south east, the latter being most destructive. During the storm 

 there were incessant fiashes of sheet lightning, unaccompanied by 

 thunder, and immediately after the storm there were two distinct 

 shocks of earthquake, at intervals of about five seconds. Early 

 in September the consul visited Trinite, and all the way the 

 destruction was most complete, the trees and vegetation looking 

 as though there had been a forest fire, although without the 

 charred appearance. The thermometer ranged from 90° to 100° 

 F. during the storm. There was a deluge of rain, one account 

 stating that over four inches fell in a few hours that evening.. 

 Nine-tenths of the buildings throughout the island were unroofed. 

 The loss of life was small in St. Pierre, but large in the interior 

 towns. The total loss of life, so far as reliable information can 

 be obtained, was seven hundred, and the loss of property was 

 enormous. All the fruit, the main reliance of the laboring class, 

 was destroyed, and prices of provisions have advanced three hun- 

 dred per cent. Every vessel was wrecked or badly damaged, 

 fifty sail in all. A clipping from a Martinique newspaper states 



