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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVI. No. 392 



SCIENCE; 



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NEW yOEK, August 8, 1890. 



No. 392. 



CONTENTS : 



D Oleomargarine i Dr. Sprung: Remarks on the Gen- 



Edgar Richards 71 1 eral Wind-Systems of the Earth 



FVank Waldo 80 



A Brilliant Meteor. F 81 



Book-Reviewb. 

 Hypnotism 81 



Butter 



• Richards 71 



Notes and News 75 



Forest Culture in Hanover 78 



Successful Brain G-RAFTiNQ 78 



Letters to the Editor. 

 Temperature in Storms, and High 



Areas. M. A. Veeder 79 1 Among the Publishers . 



82 



FOREST CULTUEE IN HANOVER. 



In various parts of the United States the question has been 

 raised, by what measures the preservation of forests and the plan- 

 tation and culture of trees might be most effectually promoted in 

 parts void of timber. In connection with this it might be desira- 

 ble to learn something about the state of forest management in 

 the province of Hanover. This province, the former Kingdom of 

 Hanover, according to a report by Consular Agent Simon to the 

 State Department, had rich tracts of forests in former centm-ies, 

 which, in consequence of civil and other wars at various times, 

 ■were reduced to desolate wastes and remained so until the first 

 decades of the present century, particularly those extents between 

 Hamburg and Hanover, which are known by the name of Lune- 

 burger Haide (Lunenburg Heath). 



Besides those wars, another reason for such devastation is to be 

 attributed to uncongenial management, such as division of com- 

 cQon forests, by which they were dispersed and fell into the hands 

 of people with small means, and thus were doomed to neglect and 

 destruction. Those singly situated wooded tracts, for want of 

 screenings, have greatly suffered by the detrimental, inclement 

 winds, which is easily understood, since large forests will defy the 

 violence of storms better than small woods. 



Great credit for having made up for past neglect and faults is 



■due to the celebrated Burkhardt, who, being a great authority in 



this matter, was appointed Director of the forest department in 



i850. Part of the Luneburger Haide, as well as other tracts grow- 



ng more and more desert by the encroachments of sand, have 



been wooded with great pains and trouble at his instigation. To 

 prevent the increase of sandy deserts those tracts were at first 

 planted with fir-trees. These could, in some parts, after a num- 

 ber of years, be cleared and substituted by beach and other trees. 

 How much the forests have been enlarged in this manner will 

 appear by the following statement: The wooded surface amounted 

 in the year 1850 to 1,217,625 acres; 1885, 1,551,900 acres. Bysuch 

 plantation of trees river-bank and sea shore tracts have been 

 solidified. In order to promote the establishment of forests in 

 every respect, the Government has granted large sums for the 

 purchase of landed property unfit for cultivation to be turned into 

 forest tracts. The Government is now keenly intent to unite 

 again tho.=e formerly scattered wooded parts into one single tract. 

 In the same way the Provincial Government and Klosterkammer 

 (Administration of cloister funds) proceed by purchasing exten- 

 sive stretches of soil. The Klosterkammer administers the large 

 funds of the secularized cloisters of the former Kingdom of Han- 

 over, now used for the support of universities, schools, and 

 churches in this province. 



Municipalities, communities, and even private individuals who 

 are Inclined to establish fox-est grounds and manage them ration- 

 ally will receive loans at 2 per cent and even cheaper from the 

 Provincial Government, to be reimbursed yearly by small instal- 

 ments. Also, single subsidies are granted for once for the turning 

 of large wastes into forest grounds. For the latter purpose the 

 pi'ovincial government resorted to a new and original method, by 

 using vagabonds, tramps, and prisoners not of a dangerous char- 

 acter for forest culture, and, indeed, according to experience, 

 with great advantage both with regard to the workers and forest 

 culture. In this manner about 9,000 acres were planted with 

 trees by those troublesome classes within tbe years 1876 to 1888. 

 Moreover, communities as well as private individuals have turned 

 about 14,000 acres into forest grounds within the same period by 

 means of subsidies afforded by tbe Provincial Government. Be- 

 sides, the matter of forest culture is encouraged and promoted on 

 the part of the Government, as well as the provincial authorities, 

 by the establishment of nurseries, where plants and young trees 

 are to be had at very moderate prices. 



By a legal preservation of forests in the vicinities of towns 

 pleasant walks are created for the pleasure and health of the in- 

 habitants, without regard to the material profit of those places. 

 At a short distance from the old city of Hanover, for instance, 

 was the so-called Eilenreide, a forest of about 1,500 acres, which 

 the city now partly encircles. This forest has essentially con- 

 tributed to the reputation of Hanover, with regard to sanitary 

 condition, to the extent of its being now, according to statistics, 

 one of the healthiest cities in Germany. Several smaller towns 

 which own extensive forest grounds and manage them in a 

 rational way, clear by the net yielding of those woods the whole 

 of their municipal expenses; as, for instance, the town of Munder, 

 situated at the foot of the Deister Mountains. The town of Goslar 

 derives an income of $25,600 to $30,000 from an extent of 7,500 

 acres of forest grounds. Every traveller on an excursion to Goslar 

 and other parts of the Hartz Mountains will have admired the fine, 

 practical forest roads which facilitate the transport of wood. It 

 has been estimated that, by the higher prices which the town re- 

 ceives at tbe sale of the wood on account of the easier transport, 

 the capital invested in making these roads and keeping them in 

 good condition yields 20 per cent yearly. 



SUCCESSFUL BRAIN GRAFTING. 

 A PAPER on the above subject, by W. Gilman Thompson, M.D., 

 appeared in the New York Medical Journal for June 28, 1890. 

 Attempts have been made to graft nearly all the different tissues 

 of the body. Skin, bone, teeth, muscle, nerves, glands, eyes, mu- 

 cous membrane, etc., have all been grafted with more or less suc- 

 cess, but successful brain grafting has not heretofore been per- 

 formed. With the exception of skin grafting, and possibly 

 mucous-membrane grafting, the results of such experiments have 

 been of little practical value. They are, however, of great scien- 

 tific interest in demonstrating the relative vitality of different 

 tissues and the histological changes which accompany degenera- 



