August 25, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



255 



the latest figures published by the Statistical 

 Department are the following : The total popu- 

 lation of the Russian empire (excluding Fin- 

 land), on May 10, 1897, was 126,586,525. Of 

 these 87,123,604 were members of the Orthodox 

 Church. Old Believers and other sections 

 number 2,204,596; Mahomedans, 13,906,972; 

 Eoman Catholics, 11,467,994; Jews, 5,215,805; 

 Protestants (Lutherans), 3,572,653. A divi- 

 sion of the population on the basis of classes 

 gives the following results : Hereditary nobles, 

 1,220,169 ; nobles for life, or by virtue of office, 

 630,119; priests of all Christian denomina- 

 tions, 588,947; honorable citizens, 342,927; 

 merchants, 281,179; burgesses, 13,386,392; 

 peasants, 96,896,648; Cossacks, 2,928,842; for- 

 eigners, 8,297,965 (this figure includes con- 

 siderable nimibers of the subject population). 

 Illiterates numbered 99,070,436 (79 per cent.) ; 

 literates, 26,569,585. Students at the uni- 

 versities and other institutions for higher edu- 

 cation numbered 104,321. 



According to a report, made by Dr. E. 

 0. Hovey, for the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey, the production of salt in the United 

 States during 1904 was 22,030,002 barrels (of 

 280 pounds), valued at $6,021,222, as compared 

 with 18,968,089 barrels, valued at $5,286,988 

 in 1903. This is the largest production ever 

 reported except in 1902, but the average net 

 price per barrel (27.332 cents) is lower than 

 that reported in 1903 (27.873 cents) or in any 

 previous year, with the exception of 1902, 

 when the average net price realized was only 

 23.769 cents a barrel. The most noteworthy 

 feature of the year 1904 was the increase of 

 1,193,620 barrels in the production of rock 

 salt. This increase was due in large part to 

 the expansion of the salt industry of Loui- 

 siana, where rock salt is easily and cheaply 

 mined in the 'mounds' which occur in the 

 southern part of the state. The chief salt- 

 producing States are New York and Michigan, 

 and the combined output from these two States 

 amounts to about two-thirds of the total produc- 

 tion of the United States. The five leading 

 salt-producing states diiring 1904 were New 

 York, 8,600,656 barrels (39.04 per cent.); 

 Michigan, 5,425,904 barrels (24.63 per cent.) ; 

 Ohio, 2,455,829 barrels (11.15 per cent.) ; Kan- 



sas, 2,161,819 barrels (9.81 per cent.), and 

 Louisiana, 1,096,850 barrels (4.97 per cent.). 

 The actual consumption of salt in 1904 was 

 23,116,971 barrels, or about 2.46 times what it 

 was in 1880. The imports of salt in 1904 

 amounted to 332,279,481 pounds. Great Brit- 

 ain contributed 98,943,611 pounds, worth $301,- 

 696; Italy 106,060,288 pounds, valued at $75,- 

 756 ; Canada 11,102,273 pounds, valued at $27,- 

 529; West Indies 105,160,371 pounds, worth 

 $89,878 ; and other countries 20,882,959 pounds, 

 valued at $20,371. The total value of all the 

 imported salt was thus $515,230. It will be ob- 

 served that while the value of the salt imj)orted 

 from Great Britain was more than 58.5 per 

 cent, of the total value of imports for the 

 year, the quantity received from that country 

 was only about 28.9 per cent, of the total 

 amount of salt imported. The West Indies 

 and Italy both exceeded Great Britain in the 

 quantity of salt exported to the United States, 

 but it was all of coarse grades, and conse- 

 quently of low valuation. 



A PRESS bulletin of the Forest Service says 

 that the annual value of the staves, hoops and 

 heads made by the mills of the United States 

 is over $20,000,000. It is estimated that more 

 than 300,000 barrels, kegs, tubs and similar 

 articles are manufactured daily in the United 

 States. Until a very recent date the woods 

 chiefly used for cooperage were the slow-grow- 

 ing hardwoods such as oak, elm, maple, ash, 

 beech and birch, but within the last few years 

 Cottonwood, poplar, and latterly gum, have 

 been substituted to some extent, owing to the 

 diminishing supply of the species first ex- 

 ploited. The depletion of the supply of raw 

 material is felt strongly by the manufacturer, 

 who finds it yearly more difficult to obtain good 

 stock. This is especially true for white oak, 

 since the maker of tight cooperage must often 

 refuse stock which a furniture maker would 

 consider first-class material. Two factors have 

 contributed to bring about this condition — 

 first, the increase in the cooperage manufac- 

 ture, which has developed enormously in the 

 past quarter century; and, second, the ex- 

 tremely wasteful methods employed in cutting, 

 which have left the forest in a deplorable con- 

 dition, and often wasted more material than 



