May 13, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



271 



tigation without materially curtailiaa^ efFort in either; it 

 cannot do all. 



Though waning, much evil to true experiment is centred 

 about an idea based upon the much abused words practical 

 and popular, i.e., the farmer should see from the results, 

 good crops, fine stock, etc., that the station is practical — it 

 must be popular. Such a condition is well, but may be a 

 delusion so far as experiment is concerned. It is not enough 

 for an experiment station to show that it has been able to 

 raise an average of forty bushels of No. 1 hard wheat per 

 acre, for a period of ten successive years. It is not enough to 

 compile facts merely for educational (popular) effect. The 

 farmer who is looking for properly initiated experiments, the 

 man who is able to appreciate such and profit by them to the 

 enlightenment of his less able, less active neighbors, while 

 he may be interested in such evidences of capability, right- 

 fully expects more. The station management which, after 

 a decade, has only succeeded in well accomplishing work 

 similar to that indicated will nevertheless be in logical posi- 

 tion to answer the question: In how much have you aug- 

 mented the aggregate of working principles of agriculture ? 



H. L. BOLLEY. 

 GoverDment Experiment Station, Feirgo, N D. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Miss Amelia B. Edwards, who died recently, has in her will 

 endowed a Chair of Egyptology. Her library, which is very 

 valuable, she has bequeathed to Sotnervllle Hall, Oxford. 



— Professor Liversedge, of Sydney, in a recent paper, states 

 that iron rust is usually considered to be an hydrated sesquioxide 

 of iron ; but, on examining a very large number of specimens of 

 rust from many different places and formed under a great variety 

 of conditions, he found that in almost every Instance the rust con- 

 tained more or less magnetic oxide, in fact, in some cases the rust, 

 though presenting the usual rust-brown color and appearance, 

 was, when powdered, wholly attracted by a magnet. 



— In addition to the Grand Honorary Prize placed at the disposal 

 of the Boston Society of Natural History, by the late Dr. William J. 

 Walker, " for such investigation or discovery as may seem to de- 

 serve it, provided such investigation or discovery shall have been 

 made known or published in the United States at least one year 

 previous to the time of award," which has been unanimously 

 awarded to Professor James D. Dana, referred to in Science of 

 April 39, the Society has awarded, from the annual Walker Prizes, 

 a first prize of one hundred dollars to Baron Gerard de Geer of 

 Stockholm, for an essay entitled " On Pleistocene Changes of Level 

 in Eastern North America," and a second prize of fifty dollars, to 

 Professor William M. Davis of Cambridge, for an essay on " The 

 Subglacial Origin of Certain Eskers." 



— 'Mr. James M. Maooun of the Canadian Geological Survey 

 Staff, who accompanied the British Commissioners to Behring Sea 

 last year as secretary, has left Ottawa en route for Alaska, to ob- 

 serve the habits of the fur seal during the present season. It is 

 proposed that he shall go over the same ground which the Com- 

 mission traversed last year, to examine specially whether there is 

 any variation in the numbers of the seals. Last year the photog- 

 rapher of the expedition succeeded in obtaining a large number 

 of excellent views of the rookeries, which will furnish a good 

 basis for comparison with a similar set to be taken this summer. 

 Mr. Macoun expects to spend the early part of the season on the 

 Aleutian Islands, proceeding to the Pribyloff Islands only when 

 the seals gather there for the summer. 



— It is well known that serious loss is caused in the various 

 Australian colonies by the ravages of the rust fungus in wheat. 

 An Intercolonial Conference, as we learn from Nature, met to 

 consider the subject in 1890, and this body has since held two 



other meetings, the third having taken place at Melbourne last 

 month. Many experiments have been made, and it has been 

 clearly shown that there are several varieties of wheat which, ex- 

 cept under very unusual circumstances, are never seriously at- 

 tacked by rust. It has also been shown that in many districts 

 early sown wheats of a rust-liable kind generally escape damage 

 by rust, when the same wheats sown late suffer seriously. In view 

 of these facts the Conference has directed attention mainly to en- 

 couraging the growth of varieties less liable to be attacked by 

 rust, and also to early sowing. At the March meeting it was 

 recommended that a practical system for the production and dis- 

 tribution of rust-resisting wheats suitable to different districts 

 should be immediately established, and that this system should, 

 subject to modifications needed by each colony, be conducted on 

 the following lines : A central station for each colony for the 

 preliminary testing of new wheats introduced into the colony; 

 for the production of new varieties by cross-fertilization and by 

 selection; and for the distribution of suitable wheats thus obtained 

 to representative districts of the colony, to be there subjected to a 

 sufficient test, and, if necessary, fixed in their characters by far- 

 mers and others competent for the work ; and that such wheats as 

 pass satisfactorily this test should then be distributed to the far- 

 mers around in such a raanner and by such agency as would be 

 most suitable to the conditions of each colony. A committee was 

 appointed to take steps for the proper naming of the different 

 varieties of wheat. 



— At the meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society, the 20th 

 of April, a paper was read on " Anemometer Comparisons," by 

 Mr. W. H. Dines. This was a report on a valuable series of ex- 

 periments which have been carried out at the request of the Coun- 

 cil of the Society with the view of obtaining a direct comparison 

 of the various anemometers in common use, so that some opinion 

 might be formed as to which type of instrument is the most suit- 

 able for general purposes. The Meteorological Council have de- 

 frayed the cost of the work. The anemometers which were com- 

 pared were : 1, Kew-pattem Robinson; 3, self-adjusting heli- 

 coid; 3, air- meter; 4, circular presstrre-plate (one foot in diame- 

 ter), and 5, a special modification of tube anemometer. Most of 

 these instruments are of the author's own invention, as well as 

 the apparatus for obtaining automatic and simultaneous records 

 from all the instruments upon the same sheet of paper. It ap- 

 pears that the factor of the Kew-pattem Robinson is practically 

 constant and must lie between 3.00 and 3.20. The helicoid 

 anemometer is quite independent of friction for all excepting light 

 winds, and different sizes read alike, but it is not so simple in con- 

 struction as the cup form. The air-meter consists of a single screw- 

 blade formed of thin aluminium, and made as nearly as possible 

 into the exact shape of a portion of a helicoid. A similar instru- 

 ment with a larger blade and with the dial protected from the 

 weather would probably form a useful and correct anemometer. 

 It would be light and offer a very trifling resistance to the wind. 

 The oscillations of the pressure-plate must have been considerably 

 damped by the action of the floating weight, but as it was they 

 were sufUciently violent. It seems probable that the remarkably 

 high values sometimes given by the Osier pressure-plate may be 

 due to the inertia of the moving parts. The tube anemometer ap- 

 pears to possess numerous advantages. The head is simple in 

 construction, and so strong that it is practically indestructible by 

 the most violent hurricane. The recording apparatus can be placed 

 at any reasonable distance from the head, and the connecting 

 pipes may go round several sharp corners without harm. The 

 power is conveyed from the head without loss by friction, and 

 hence the instrument may be made sensitive to very low veloci- 

 ties without impairing its ability to resist the most severe gale. 



— In Tlie Studio for May 7, Mr. Gaston L. Feurardent has 

 an article reviewing the one written by Mr. Edward Robinson of 

 the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, Mass., and published in the 

 Century Magazine for April: "Did the Greeks Paint their Sculp- 

 tures?" Mr. Feurardent, while giving Mr. Robinson full credit for 

 the research and learning so amply shown in his article, finds him- 

 self unable to accept his conclusions so far as they relate to the 

 painting of marble statues of the higher class. 



