i8o 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 318 



fifths of the whole region is used for corn-culture, while the north- 

 ern and western limit covers those districts in which not more than 

 one-half of the improved lands is used for this cereal. On the 

 whole, the climate of the corn zone is not favorable to wheat, as the 

 summers are too hot, and have too much rain. Notwithstanding 

 this fact, the great centre of American wheat-production is situated 

 in this region, south of the Great Lakes. It is remarkable, that, 

 notwithstanding the great total amount of precipitation, excessive 

 dryness in any part of the period of growth of the plant causes 

 poor crops, long periods of clear weather being interrupted by 

 sudden violent showers of rain. Besides this, the rapid increase of 

 temperature in spring is not favorable to the development of wheat. 



The northern zone is divided into two sections, — that of wheat, 

 and that of oats. An important line in this region is the southern 

 limit of summer wheat, as those countries in which only summer 

 wheat can be grown have serious disadvantages as compared to 

 others. As all the sowing has to be done in spring, the amount of 

 work at this season is so great as to make the introduction of the 

 most profitable methods of culture impossible. Owing to the 

 severity of our winters, this line runs far more southerly than in 

 Europe. Starting from Boston, it crosses Massachusetts, northern 

 New York, and Ontario. It reaches the 45th parallel in Michigan, 

 and in the prairie region descends to 38° and 39" north latitude. 

 North of this line, only summer wheat can be grown. This region 

 includes almost the whole arable prairie regitjn, and the whole 

 Dominion of Canada with the sole exception of southern Ontario. 

 In the eastern portion this line coincides with a temperature in 

 January of r8° F., while in the western part of the country it coin- 

 cides with that of 30° F. This difference is principally founded on 

 the difference of snowfall in those regions. While the Eastern 

 States are covered with deep snow, the prairies have no such pro- 

 tection, and the dry, cold winds of winter kill the young plants. 



One of the most remarkable features of the wheat area is its great 

 extent northward in the central parts of our continent, where a clear 

 summer favors its cultivation. The same climatic peculiarity 

 accounts for the existence of the Genesee wheat region of central 

 New York. Wherever the amount of precipitation in summer ex- 

 ceeds 50 centimetres, oats are cultivated in preference to wheat. 



Finally we have to consider the Pacific coast strip. In the large 

 valleys of California and Oregon the summers are warm, but not 

 moist enough for the extensive cultivation of corn and cotton; 

 while farther north the precipitation is sufficient, but the tempera- 

 ture too low. It is true that in a few districts of California, and 

 also in Oregon and Washington Territory, corn is the third in im- 

 portance among the cereal products ; but, taken as a whole, only 

 three per cent of the total area is applied to its cultivation. In 

 southern California excellent crops of corn are obtained by means 

 of irrigation. 



In California and Oregon, and in that part of Washington Terri- 

 tory situated east of the Cascade Range, the culture of wheat is by 

 far the most important. In CaUfornia and Oregon seventy per 

 cent of the cultivated area is used for growing wheat, a figure which 

 is equalled only in Minnesota. The clear and dry summer favors 

 wheat more than any other plant, a sufficient amount of humidity 

 being retained in the ground after heavy winter rains. In southern 

 California the cultivation of wheat requires irrigation. Second in 

 importance is barley, which in California occupies twenty-three 

 oer cent of the cultivated area; farther north the rainfall increases, 

 and oats take the place of barley ; and still farther north barley- 

 culture is more important than even that of wheat. 



Taken as a whole, about one-half of the continent of North 

 America is arable land, about thirty per cent belonging to the polar 

 regions, while twenty per cent is arid land, or mountainous, rocky 

 regions. The agricultural region includes one of the countries best 

 adapted to the production of cotton and corn, while the climate of 

 the same region excludes other cereals and the vine. The develop- 

 ment of the wheat region, although very rapid, is hampered by 

 numerous disadvantages, — severe winters, rapid increase of tem- 

 perature in spring, sudden variations of temperature, late frosts in 

 spring and early frosts in the fall, and frequent draughts impair its 

 value, while the dryness of the early fall favors the culture. On 

 the whole, the climate is not as favorable to the growth of wheat 

 as that of Europe. If, notwithstanding this fact, the wheat-pro- 



duction of the Noi-th-west has reached the enormous importance it 

 has actually attained, the reason must be looked for in economic 

 more than in agricultural considerations. The rapid colonization 

 of the prairie regions, their easy cultivation, and the great natural 

 highways of our continent, have given it the importance it possesses 

 at present. But it would be erroneous to believe that this develop- 

 ment will continue, that the amount of wheat produced and ex- 

 ported will indefinitely increase. When the tillable land has been 

 taken up, and no new areas of productive land are added to the 

 old ones, the economic reasons which have made the North-west the 

 great granary of the world will cease, and the development will 

 take another course, yielding greater returns from the same area 

 than are possibly attained by the present wheat-culture. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The director of the United States Mint, in his annual report to 

 Congress, says that the gold product of this country for the year 

 i888, was 1,644,927 ounces, of the value of $33,175,000. This is 

 about the same as in 1887, being an excess of only $175,000. The 

 silver product was 45,783,632 fine ounces, of the commercial value 

 of about $43,000,000, and of the coining value of $59,195,000. This 

 is an increase of 4,515,327 fine ounces over the product of 1887. 

 In addition to the product of our own mines, some 10,000,000 

 ounces of silver were extracted in the United States from foreign 

 ores and bullion, principally Mexican. The coinage of the mints 

 during the year was as follows: gold, $31,380,808; silver dollars, 

 $31,990,833; subsidiary silver, $1,034,773; minor, $912,201 ; total, 

 $65,318,615. The import of gold bullion and coin was$ii,03i, 941, 

 and the export $34,619,667, a loss by export of $23,587,726. The 

 import of silver was $21,592,062, and the export $29,895,222, a loss 

 by export of $8,303,160. The metallic stock of the United States 

 Jan. I, 1889, including bullion in the mints awaiting coinage, is 

 estimated to have been, gold, $705,061,975 ; silver, $403,516,756 ; 

 total, $1,108,578,731. 



— Dr. Chaille, the well-known statistician, states that the aver- 

 age life of woman is longer than that of man, and in most parts of 

 the United States woman's expectation of life is greater. 



— A correspondent of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical 

 Reporter says that petroleum-oil is almost universally used by the 

 artisan and poorer classes in London as an illuminant, and the 

 number of accidents which occur yearly with these lamps is very 

 large. Mr. R. W. Brownhill has invented an ingenious prepay- 

 ment gas-meter, based on the principle of the cigar, coffee, and 

 other automatic supply-stands to be seen in every railway-station 

 in London. It consists of a small attachment, which can be ap- 

 plied to any meter, and which will cause the gas to be delivered in 

 definite quantities as paid for by pence dropped into a box. All 

 that has to be done is to drop in a penny and pull a small handle, 

 when sufficient gas for the supply of an ordinary burner for six 

 hours will be delivered from the meter. Any number of pennies 

 may be placed in the box, one at a time, up to 143, the handle 

 being pulled after each penny, which would insure 858 hours' gas 

 to one burner, or a shorter supply to several. 



— Carl Zeiss, whose fame as a manufacturer of microscopes and 

 microscopical lenses is world-wide, has just died at Jena, at the 

 age of seventy-three. 



— A flume fifty miles in length has just been completed at San 

 Diego, Cal. It is intended for irrigation purposes and water-sup- 

 ply. The reservoir in the mountains, whence the water is supplied, 

 is 4,500 feet above sea-level. 



— Dr. O. J. Broch, at one time professor of mathematics at 

 Christiania, and later minister of the Board of Trade in Norway, 

 who more recently acted as director of the International Bureau of 

 Weights and Measures at Paris, died at Sevres, Feb. 5, at the age 

 of seventy-one. It has been the especial duty of the bureau, over 

 which Dr. Broch presided from its creation after the Metric Con- 

 vention of 1875, to construct new standards of the metre and kilo- 

 gram for the different countries which were parties to that conven- 

 tion. At the time of his death all these standards had been con- 

 structed, and were only awaiting final approval at Sevres before 

 their delivery this year to the several contracting States. 



