216 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 190. 



THE SCIENTIFIC WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT 

 OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is not many years since the scientific 

 men of this country were entirely indiffer- 

 ent to the work of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. They were in- 

 different because the work of the Depart- 

 ment was so poorly done that trained men 

 knew that it was practically valueless ; 

 now and then one still finds a remnant of 

 this old feeling in elderly men who have 

 not kept in touch with the development of 

 the Department during the past few years. 

 That this prejudice has no longer any 

 foundation in fact (if we except the free- 

 seed-distribution folly) may be seen by an 

 examination of the recently published 

 ' Historical Sketch of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture,' compiled by 

 Charles H. Greathouse, of the Division of 

 Publications. From it we learn that there 

 are a full dozen ' divisions,' * bureaus ' and 

 ' offices,' which are concerned with scien- 

 tific problems. Botanists are interested es- 

 pecially in the Division of Botany, estab- 

 lished in 1869 ; Division of Forestry, es- 

 tablished in 1881 ; Division of Vegetable 

 Physiology and Pathology, established in 

 1886 ; Office of Fiber Investigations, es- 

 tablished in 1890 ; Division of Soils, es- 

 tablished in 1894 ; and Division of Agros- 

 tology, established in 1895. For these 

 divisions there are annually appropriated 

 for expenses, from $80,000 to $100,000, in 

 addition to separate appropriations for 

 salaries, libi'ai-y and museum. If we add 

 the Divisions of Chemistry, Entomology and 

 Biological Survey, the aggregate of the ap- 

 propriations reaches about §150,000. Every 

 one of these divisions is in charge of well 

 trained scientific men, who have sur- 

 rounded themselves with expert assistants 

 selected with great care and with especial 

 reference to their preparation for the work 

 to which they are assigned. ISTo mention 

 need be made here of the "Weather Bureau, 



or of the Bureau of Animal Industrj^, with 

 whose work the people at large are quite 

 generally and favorably acquainted. 



The publications from these scientific 

 divisions reflect great credit upon the man- 

 agement of the Department. This is nota- 

 bly true of the divisions pertaining to 

 botany, from which we have had ' many 

 valuable scientific papers. 



BOTANICAL PAPERS IN THE NEBRASKA ACAD- 

 EMY OF SCIENCES. 



The botanical papers printed in the re- 

 cently issued ' Publications of the Nebraska 

 Academy of Sciences, VI.,' are as follows : 

 ' The Nomenclature of the Nebraska Forest 

 Trees,' by Charles E. Bessey (giving the now 

 generally accepted names of the sixty-seven 

 species of native trees, and discussing their 

 synonymy) ; ' A Comparison of Fossil Dia- 

 toms from Nebraska with Similar Deposits 

 at St. Joseph, Mo., and at Denver, Colo.,' 

 by C. J. Elmore (showing that these 

 must have grown in fresh- water ponds or 

 lakes); 'An Observation on Annual Kings,' 

 by F. W. Card (showing that, contrary to 

 popular belief, the growth of a second ring 

 of wood in tree trunks does not occur as a re- 

 sult of defoliation); ' On the Internal Tem- 

 perature of Tree-Trunks,' by E. A. Emerson 

 (giving the results of a prolonged study of 

 the problem, and showing that the tem- 

 perature is greatly affected by the amount 

 of water present) ; ' Data as to AVind-Dis- 

 tribution of Seeds,' by Edward M. Hussong 

 (giving the results of observations by means 

 of collecting trips, showing that while ' high 

 winds' are effective agents in the disti'ibution 

 of heavy and rounded seeds they are by 

 no means efficient in the dispersion of the 

 comose, pappose and membranaceous seeds, 

 these being carried much more efficiently 

 by the lighter ' breezes ' and ' local winds ' ); 

 ' Chalcedony-Lime Nuts from the Bad 

 Lands,' by Erwin H. Barbour (describing 

 and figuring fossil embryos of seeds ob- 



