National and Educational Interests. 



157 



The transfer of the Weather Bureau to the Department of 

 Agriculture (July 1, 1 891) is also an important event to the 

 horticulturist, because the movement promises to result in a 

 more minute study of the particular requirements of the culti- 

 vator. " The study of climate has, in general, been prosecut- 

 ed by European meteorologists to an extent and to a degree 

 of refinement that is not yet attained in America, and perhaps Weathei 

 scarcely appreciated by us. Thus we speak of the climate of Bureau, 

 a state, whereas we should speak of the climates within the 

 state and of the climate of a special farm or even of a small 

 field, because each individual plant prospers or languishes 

 according as the temperature and moisture of its own locality 

 is favorable or not. * * * The demands of agricultural 

 climatology are very different from those of dynamic meteor- 

 ology or the study and prediction of daily weather."* 



There has been a revival of interest upon the relation of 

 electricity to the growth and development of plants, particu- 

 larly abroad, and one bulletin report upon the subject has 

 been made in this country.")" Researches upon the influence 

 of electric light upon vegetation have also been published 

 from Cornell University, J and these possess added interest 

 now that the electric light has been advised as one of the means 

 of mitigating the effects of London and other city fogs. § 



Effects of fog upon plants. One of the unique and important 

 investigations of the year is that undertaken by Professor F. 

 W. Oliver, of Kew, for the Royal Horticultural Society, upon 

 the effects of urban fogs upon plants. A grant of ;£ioo was 

 made by the government for this purpose in 1890, and this is 

 the more interesting since it appears to be the "very first in- 

 stance," according to the Gardeners' Chronicle, "in which a Fog 

 grant of public money has been made for any purely horticul- 

 tural purpose" in that country. A preliminary report was 

 made to the Royal Society, March 24, 1891. It finds that pure 

 country fogs or mists exert no injurious influence on plants 

 aside from lessening the amount of light which they receive. 

 The urban fogs, especially those of large manufacturing cities, 

 contain smoke and other impurities. The most injurious in- 



*Mark W. Harrington, chief of Weather Bureau, in special rep. 1891, 25. 

 fBull. 16, Hatch, Mass. Exp. Sta. 

 JBull. 30, Cornell Exp. Sta. 



§The student of the relations of electricity to plants should consult Dr Ewald Wollny's 

 Anwendung der Elektricitat bei der Pflanzenkultur, Munich, 1883. 



