JrxEvil, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



681 



effect of climate upon corn, the view being 

 maintained tliat northern grown varieties 

 are not necessarily earlier than southeni 

 sorts. The popping of corn is due to the 

 starch lying within a tough layer which 

 bursts upon the application of heat. 



I'nder meteorology winds injurious to 

 crops are considered at length in a digest 

 of Mr. Curtis' bulletin. Three classes of 

 destructive winds are considered, namelj', 

 violent, cold and drying -winds. Of the 

 cold winds there are two classes, the moun- 

 tain and valley, and those associated with 

 cyclones, the so-called blizzards and ' north- 

 ers,' chietl}- destructive to orchard crops. 

 The extent of the latter has increased with 

 the progress of deforestation, and the Michi- 

 gan peach belt, with its failures in late yeai-s, 

 is given as an example. Under ' Variations 

 in the Character of the Seasons,' Mr. Gaw- 

 throp shows cause and makes an appeal for 

 the exploration of the upper atmosphere. 

 Mr. Claytou , under 'Khythm in the "Weather," 

 claims that ' there is good reason to believe 

 that through all this seeming irregiilarity 

 there runs a web of harmony and rhythm,' 

 and expects that meteorology will in time be- 

 come an exact science. It is certainly 

 gratifying to note how much attention is 

 being given to the weather and the progress 

 that is made from year to year in its study. 



"While the air is being investigated the 

 soils are not neglected. In addition to an- 

 alyses in relation to fertilizers the action of 

 organic acids is reported upon by H. Sny- 

 der, of the Minnesota Station . Soil tempera- 

 tures are taken at many Stations and facts 

 are rapidly accumulated upon soil meteor- 

 ology as well as the movements of liquids 

 and gases in the soil. 



Naturallj', a large part of the chemical 

 work of tlie Experiment Stations is with fer- 

 tilizers and the record before us gives a full 

 share of its space to this branch of the Sta- 

 tion service. The Xew Jersej' Station is- 

 sues a large bulletin giving the results of 



analyses, while the Maine Station reports 

 upon the foraging powers of some agricul- 

 tural plants for phosphoric acid, as tested by 

 box experiments. The Louisiana Station 

 issues a large bulletin upon the ' Results of 

 five yeai-s' experiments with fertilizers.' 

 This is not the place to give conclusions, the 

 point here being for the readers of Scienxe to 

 realize that experiment work in this country 

 is widespread in the broad sense, and that 

 we are entering an age that has for its 

 watchword, -Prove all things,' while we may 

 hope that we hold fast to that which is good. 



Mr, Crazier, of Michigan, takes up a single 

 somewhat oliscure crop, the millet, and with 

 sixty-four pages of text and six figures gives 

 results obtained from seventy-three samples 

 grown under vai-ying conditions. In like 

 manner Mr. Hilgard, of California, brings 

 out the facts concerning the new tannin- 

 producing plant carnaigre. From the same 

 Station is a bulletin upon the Australian salt 

 bush, which grown upon ' some of the most 

 alkali spots yielded at the rate of five tons 

 of drj' matter per acre,' and is eaten with 

 relish by live stock. Experiments upon 

 wheat, tobacco, potatoes and several other 

 standard crops receive notice in the Record. 



Under Horticulture Mr. Ileideman, of 

 the Minnesota Station, gives a ' cla.ssifica- 

 tion of the sexual allinities of Prunus Ameri- 

 cana vars. Numerous crosses were made 

 between the various forms of flowers, most 

 of which were not hermaphroditic, and out 

 of forty-nine possible combinations of pol- 

 lination only 13 were legitimate. Mr. 

 Lodeman, of Cornell, has issued a buUetiu 

 upon ' gi-afting of grapes," illustrating direc- 

 tions for the various methods and remarking 

 upon the physiology of the process. In his 

 annual report, Mr. Munson, of Maine, gives 

 notes upon \arious crops. Thus in a cross 

 between ignotum and j>each tomatoes there 

 was ' a marked falling off in the second gen- 

 eration over the advantage indicated by the 

 first.' 



