954 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 364:. 



duction to the volume to contain them is 

 three fourths completed, and will be 

 finished in time to transmit it to the Gov- 

 ernment Printing OflSce by the last of July 

 or middle of August. 



The 5-inch altazimuth was used during 

 the year principally as a zenith telescope, 

 in connection with the prime vertical tran- 

 sit. I am not making zenith-telescope ob- 

 servations exclusively with it, but only of 

 those stars that are observed with the 

 prime vertical, and which permit of being 

 observed by Talcott's method. 



This observatory is the only one in this 

 country equipped with a prime vertical 

 transit and for that very reason the major 

 portion of the data we are securing for the 

 study of the variation of latitude is made 

 with it. 



George A. Hill, 

 Assistant Astronomer. 



ANNUAL BE PORT OF THE SECRETARY OF 

 AGRICULTURE, 190 L 



f\,THE Fifth Annual Keport of the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture, Hon. James Wilson, is 

 considerably longer than in former years, 

 reflecting thereby the great growth and de- 

 velopment which has attended this Depart- 

 ment during his administration. 



WEATHER BUREAU. 



He announces an important extension of 

 the forecast field of the Weather Bureau, 

 which now includes reports from certain 

 points in the British Isles and on the con- 

 tinent of Europe, from the Azores, Nassau, 

 Bermuda and Turks' Island. The Atlantic 

 forecasts based upon these reports now form 

 part of the regular night forecasts issued in 

 Washington. Three new forecast districts 

 have been established — in Boston, New 

 Orleans and Denmark. An extension of 

 the forecast to farmers through the Rural 

 Free Delivery is contemplated. Substan- 

 tial improvements are reported in the De- 



partment's system of wireless telegraphy, 

 of which the Secretary states in conclusion : 



While there is much experimental work yet to be 

 done before the present system is reliable for inter- 

 ship communication, or before any two systems can 

 work within the same field without each rendering 

 the other useless, such progress has been made by the 

 Government experimenters that, with no interference 

 by private systems, stations can be successfully oper- 

 ated over at least 150 miles of coast line, and they 

 are now in operation on the North Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia coasts, and soon will be instituted between the 

 Farallone Islands and the mainland and Tatoosh 

 Island and the mainland, on the Pacific coast. 



ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



A large portion of the report covers the 

 subject of animal industry. The grand 

 total of animals and animal products ex- 

 ported during the year exceeded $250,000- 

 000 in value. This vast foreign market is 

 Only preserved to our producers by the in- 

 defatigable efi'orts of the Department and 

 the rigid inspection exercised through the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry. This Bureau 

 inspected for export 385,000 cattle, 228,000 

 sheep and 48,000 horses and mules, and 

 nearly 1,000 vessels carrying live-stock. 

 Imported animals were also inspected to the 

 number of 342,000, and, where necessary, 

 quarantined. The Secretary suggests that 

 with the enormous interests our stock- 

 raisers have at stake, and inspection or 

 quarantine affording, after all, a relative, 

 not an absolute guarantee of protection, it 

 might be well for this country to follow the 

 example of Great Britain and exclude live- 

 stock from other countries entirely. The 

 meat-inspection service involved the inspec- 

 tion at time of slaughter of nearly 37,000,- 

 000 animals. Of the more than 5,000,000 

 cattle inspected, the condemned carcasses 

 were about one-fourth of 1 per cent. ; of the 

 6,500,000 sheep, one-tenth of 1 per cent. ; 

 and of 24,000,000 hogs, one-third of 1 per 

 cent. In the control of indigenous diseases, 

 1,500,000 inspections were made and over 

 45,000 cars disinfected in the Texas fever 



