November 4, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



605 



volcanic ash deposited upon the northern por- 

 tion of the island of St. Vincent and the ash- 

 filling of the gorges of the Wallibou and 

 Eabaka Dry Eivers, the devastation wrought 

 in the forests and on the plantations within 

 a radius of about five miles from the crater 

 and the phenomena of primary eruptions ob- 

 served in the crater and of secondary eruptions 

 observed in the Wallibou and Eabaka ash-beds. 

 The nature of the exploding eruption cloud 

 was discussed and it was shown how the 

 heavily dust-laden steam cloud kept close to 

 the surface of the ground under the influence 

 of gravity while its initial velocity was fur- 

 nished by the horizontal component of the ex- 

 plosion. 



About eighty lantern slides were used in 

 illustrating the speaker's remarks. 



Edmund Otis Hovey, 



Secretary. 



THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OP 

 THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The 155th meeting was held in the Chem- 

 ical Lecture Eoom, Tuesday, October 11, 7:30 

 P.M. The following papers were given : ' The 

 Construction of a Double Six,' by Professor 

 Archibald Henderson ; ' The Geological His- 

 tory of Currituck Banks,' by Professor Collier 

 Cobb. Alvin S. Wheeler, 



Recording Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



SOIL MANAGEMENT.* 



" The three papers here printed have been 

 refused departmental publication by the Chief 

 of the Bureau of Soils." 



In glancing at this note on the title page 

 of this pamphlet of 168 pages, the reader is 

 naturally struck with the query, why the TJ. 

 S. Department of Agriculture should decline 

 to publish the results of the work of such a 

 man as King, working under its auspices. 

 Has the salt indeed lost its savor? Both 



* ' Investigations in Soil Management,' being 

 three of six papers on the influence of soil man- 

 agement upon the water-soluble salts in soils, 

 and the yield crops, by F. H. King, Madison, 

 Wisconsin. Published by the author, with per- 

 mission of the Secretary of Agriculture. 



American and European scientists have been 

 accustomed for many years to regard with 

 confidence and respect the work and publica- 

 tions of the man upon whom, by common con- 

 sent, the mantle of Wollny has fallen since the 

 premature death of the soil physicist of Ger- 

 many. It is certainly worth the while of 

 every worker in agricultural science "to see and 

 judge for himself whether a star has been 

 eclipsed or blotted out from the scientific 

 firmament, and if so, from what cause. 



We are, at the outset, somewhat reassured 

 as to the totality of the conjectured eclipse, 

 by finding that the three rejected bulletins are 

 but a portion of a series of six forming the 

 report of King, as head of the Division of 

 Soil Management, for the years 1902 and 1903. 

 Since three out of the six have been accepted 

 by the department for publication, it is evi- 

 dent that King's right hand has not wholly lost 

 its . cunning during these two years. What, 

 then, is the matter with Bulletins D, E and F, 

 here presented to us by the author at his per- 

 sonal expense and risk, and as he expressly 

 states, in their original form ? 



As it happens, the rest of the series, bul- 

 letins B, C and G, have not yet reached publi- 

 cation by the bureau of soils. We must, there- 

 fore, rely upon the intrinsic evidence con- 

 tained in the three now before us, to settle the ' 

 reason for their rejection. 



In his preface the author reticently says 

 that the ' adequate discussion was withheld 

 in order to avoid, as far as possible, antagoniz- 

 ing the published views of the Bureau ' (of 

 Soils) ; and hence the three papers are pub- 

 lished without general comments. It is to 

 the conclusions deducible from the facts given, 

 then, that we must look for the substance of 

 these papers, and for the possible cause of 

 their falling under condemnation. 



Bulletin E, the first in the pamphlet and 

 the most important of the three, treats of the 

 results obtained in the fertilization with stable 

 manure, in different multiple proportions, of 

 eight different types of soils. The experi- 

 ments were conducted on eight two-acre plots, 

 located respectively near Goldsboro, 1^. C, 

 Upper Marlboro, Md., Lancaster, Pa., and 

 Janesville, Wis., and representing two groups 



