September 19, 1884.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



THE OHIO AGRICULTURAL EXPERI- 

 MENT STATION. 



Second annual report of the Ohio agricultural ex- 

 periment-station , for 1883. Printed by order 

 of the state legislature. Columbus, Myers 

 brothers, state printers, 1884. 207 p. 8°. 



The first impression made by this report is 

 that of unusual industry in experimentation. 

 A large amount of work has been done upon 

 wheat and Indian corn, as was natural, con- 

 sidering the location of the station. Quite 

 extensive feeding-experiments have been exe- 

 cuted ; and a number of minor subjects have 

 received more or less attention, such as obser- 

 vations on garden-vegetables, fruits, weeds, 

 and injurious insects, the testing of over five 

 hundred samples of seeds as to their germina- 

 tive power, experiments on cutting potatoes 

 for seed, etc. 



Over forty pages are devoted to experiments 

 upon wheat, and nearly as many to those upon 

 Indian corn ; such subjects being considered 

 as the comparative value of varieties, thick and 

 thin seeding, winter protection and spring cul- 

 tivation of wheat, planting at different depths 

 for corn, methods of culture, application of 

 fertilizers, etc. Some interesting experiments 

 in crossing different varieties of corn are also 

 in progress. 



The feeding-experiments relate mainly to 

 milk-production, though a few pig-feeding trials 

 are added ; showing that the same amount of 

 food produces more rapid growth when the 

 animals are protected from extreme cold, — a 

 fact which has already been proved so often, 

 and which is so fully in accord with all that 

 we know of the effects of a low temperature 

 on animals, that it would seem that it might 

 now be accepted as established. 



The experiments presented in this report are 

 so good, and represent so much labor, that 

 one can but regret that they are not better. 

 For example : the field-experiments on wheat 

 and corn give evidence of care in planning and 

 in execution. They take up important subjects, 

 and present much food for reflection to farmers ; 

 but in all candor it must be said that they 

 prove nothing. Passing over the question 

 which is now being seriously asked b} 7 eminent 

 authorities, whether field-trials are capable of 

 yielding trustworthy results, it is certain, that, 

 in order that they may do so, they must be 

 executed with all the precautions which the 

 experience of thirty years has suggested. It 

 is not too much to say that these experiments 

 are not thus distinguished, though they do, 

 indeed, compare favorably with many others ; 

 and when we find, for example, the two un- 

 manured plots of one series yielding respect- 

 ively 40.2 and 70.4 bushels of corn per acre, we 

 must conclude that the results of such trials 

 are to be taken with some grains of allowance. 

 The feeding- trials, too, while in many respects 

 carefully conducted, have just enough elements 

 of uncertainty — short periods, estimates of 

 amount of hay eaten, estimates of composition 

 of food, etc. — to give rise to the constant feel- 

 ing that the results ma} 7 be accidental. 



It is, of course, to be presumed that this 

 station, like most others, has not the means 

 to do all that its director would be glad to do ; 

 and a fair criticism should take into account 

 the limitations under which such work must 

 usually be done. At the same time, certain 

 conditions are essential to the prosecution of 

 scientific research ; and experiments made in 

 disregard of them are no better because that 

 disregard is enforced. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECTION OF 

 GEOGRAPHY. 



The meetings of the section were held in the Mont- 

 real gymnasium, which was sometimes crowded to 

 overflowing, especially upon the appearance of Lieuts. 

 G-reely and Eay. 



The president's address was listened to with marked 

 attention. After the usual formalities were passed, 

 the proceedings were opened by the president, who 

 communicated a letter which he had received from 

 Mr. Joseph Thomson, — recently returned from Afri- 

 ca, — from which the following is extracted: " I shall 

 have to tell about snow-clad mountains, grassy pla- 

 teaux, and sterile plains, of picturesque isolated moun- 



tains, wonderfully preserved volcanic cones and craters 

 in which the fiery forces might have been at work the 

 previous year, of the charming crater-lake Chala on 

 the slopes of Kilima-njaro, the silvery sheets of Nai- 

 vasha, Mtakuto, and Baringo, lying embosomed in a 

 great valley-like depression formed by the dark and 

 frowning mountains of Man and Lykipia, Not the 

 least interesting subject will be that of the enormous 

 volcanic mountains El Gon or Ligonyi. 



u The people themselves are more interesting and 

 unique than their country. The Masai are in every 

 respect a people by themselves. They have no re- 

 semblance either to the true negroes or to the Galla 

 and Somal who shut them in. They distinctly differ 

 in their mode of life, their curious customs, forms 



