effect of climate upon corn, the view being maintained that northern grown varieties are not necessarily earlier than southern sorts. The popping of corn is due to the starch lying within a tough layer which bursts upon the application of heat.

Under meteorology winds injurious to crops are considered at length in a digest of Mr. Curtis' bulletin. Three classes of destructive winds are considered, namely, violent, cold and drying winds. Of the cold winds there are two classes, the mountain and valley, and those associated with cyclones, the so-called blizzards and 'northers,' chiefly destructive to orchard crops. The extent of the latter has increased with the progress of deforestation, and the Michigan peach belt, with its failures in late years, is given as an example. Under' Variations in the Character of the Seasons,' Mr. Gawthrop shows cause and makes an appeal for the exploration of the upper atmosphere. Mr. Clayton, under 'Rhythm in the Weather,' claims that there is good reason to believe that through all this seeming irregularity there runs a web of harmony and rhythm,' and expects that meteorology will in time become an exact science. It is certainly gratifying to note how much attention is being given to the weather and the progress that is made from year to year in its study. While the air is being investigated the soils are not neglected. In addition to analyses in relation to fertilizers the action of organic acids is reported upon by H. Snyder, of the Minnesota Station. Soil temperatures are taken at many Stations and facts are rapidly accumulated upon soil meteorology as well as the movements of liquids and gases in the soil.

Naturally, a large part of the chemical work of the Experiment Stations is with fertilizers and the record before us gives a full share of its space to this branch of the Station service. The New Jersey Station issues a large bulletin giving the results of

analyses, while the Maine Station reports upon the foraging powers of some agricultural plants for phosphoric acid, as tested by box experiments. The Louisiana Station issues a large bulletin upon the 'Results of five years' experiments with fertilizers.' This is not the place to give conclusions, the point here being for the readers of SCIENCE to realize that experiment work in this country is widespread in the broad sense, and that we are entering an age that has for its watchword, 'Prove all things,' while we may hope that we hold fast to that which is good. Mr. Crazier, of Michigan, takes up a single somewhat obscure crop, the millet, and with sixty-four pages of text and six figures gives results obtained from seventy-three samples grown under varying conditions. In like manner Mr. Hilgard, of California, brings out the facts concerning the new tanninproducing plant carnaigre. From the same Station is a bulletin upon the Australian salt bush, which grown upon 'some of the most alkali spots yielded at the rate of five tons of dry matter per acre,' and is eaten with relish by live stock. relish by live stock. Experiments upon wheat, tobacco, potatoes and several other standard crops receive notice in the Record.

Under Horticulture Mr. Heideman, of the Minnesota Station, gives a 'classification of the sexual affinities of Prunus Americana vars. Numerous crosses were made between the various forms of flowers, most of which were not hermaphroditic, and out of forty-nine possible combinations of pollination only 13 were legitimate. Mr. Lodeman, of Cornell, has issued a bulletin upon grafting of grapes,' illustrating directions for the various methods and remarking upon the physiology of the process. In his annual report, Mr. Munson, of Maine, gives notes upon various crops. Thus in a cross between ignotum and peach tomatoes there was a marked falling off in the second generation over the advantage indicated by the first.'

Mr. Buckhout after five years' experience in planting forest trees' concludes in the Pennsylvania Station Report "that considering the time, expense and work involved, artificial forest planting cannot be recommended, at least in the way pursued in the experiment and that natural methods of reforesting supplemented by some seed sowing, thinning and planting will suffice for the present." Mr. McCarthy, of the North Carolina Station, has prepared a bulletin upon seed testing and fully describes its uses and methods. Weeds receive attention from Mr. Wooton, of the New Mexico Station, who figures several of the worst in his Territory.

Under diseases of plants some grape troubles in New York are reported upon by Mr. Lodeman of Cornell. Thus the so-called shelling' is ascribed to one or more of four causes, namely, parasites, conditions of vine, of soil, or of atmosphere. An English experimenter shows that finely ground lime 700 pounds per acre will check the club root in turnips. Resin is found by Mr. Webber to be effective in preventing the sooty mould of the orange.

Economic entomology receives consideration under many heads as the damage caused by American locusts, chinch bugs, codling moth, etc. A new saw-fly and pear insect are mentioned and many species are named under beneficial insects. Gas treatment for destroying scale insects is reported upon from California and Entomology and Quarantine' is considered.

Much space is given to the consideration of foodstuffs, their analyses, digestibility, etc., the Maine Station perhaps taking the lead in these matters in the copy of the Record in hand, while Utah and Minnesota come in for a share in dairy herd records' and relative value of corn and oats for horses.' Several papers are mentioned by title or at length under dairying.

6

Surely enough has been here given to

show that the Experiment Stations of the United States are pushing on along many lines, and that through the facts accumulated principles cannot but be laid bare.

THE HORTICULTURALISTS' RULE-BOOK. THE first edition of this' compendium of useful information for fruit-growers, truckgrowers, florists and others' by Professor L. H. Bailey, of Cornell University, was published in 1889 and a second in 1892. The great advances made in methods of combating insect and fungous enemies during the past few years led the author to revise and extend his work. A chapter upon greenhouse heating has been added and another upon the current literature of horticulture.

The following are some of the leading subjects considered: insecticides and injurious insects, plant diseases with preventives and remedies; injuries from mice, rabbits and other animals; weeds, seedtables, etc. There is a chapter upon Rules in which are given rules for naming fruit, codes of various societies, etc. Within the flexible covers of this little book the publishers (Macmillan & Co.) have neatly packed together a surprising amount of valuable information. Here the horticulturist may learn how much seed to sow per acre, how many plants to set in his orchard, how to keep off the enemies to his crop, and when to harvest and market it. Not the least is a list of the leading books that have been published upon horticultural subjects and within easy reach of crop grow

เ were pirated by the Standard Natural History,' I beg to say that it is incorrect and libelous. The matter concerns me, as one of the authors of the Standard Natural History, and also as the author of the Key to North American Birds, in several later editions of which many of the same illustrations were used by my publishers, Messrs. Estes & Lauriat, of Boston. As 'piracy,' like plagiarism, implies dishonesty, the allegation thus made by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who signs the article, is too serious to be overlooked.

Nevertheless, being ready to believe that Dr. Merriam erred through inadvertence, I am prepared to accept an apology, in so far as I am personally concerned; but I am not authorized to state that this will be considered satisfactory by the other parties who have been thus libeled.

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 5, 1895.

[The word piracy may be used in two senses moral and commercial. When I wrote the article in which it was stated incidentally that the Brehm plates in the Standard Natural History were pirated, I believed that they were in both senses. Among the reasons for this belief may be mentioned the following:

1. The book itself contains no statement of the fact that the illustrations are taken from Brehm.

2. The anatomist Fürbringer states that he searched in vain for a copy of the Standard Natural History in Germany (Journal für Ornithologie, Apr., 1892, 138).

3. It is stated in the Nature Novitates, Berlin (Vol XV., No. 1, Jan., 1893, p. 18, nr. 326), that the work 'may not be imported into Europe on account of the reproduction of the Brehm woodcuts.' ['Darf in Europa wegen Nachdruck der Brehmschen Holzschnitte nicht eingeführt werden.']

4. The name of the artist, Mützel, was

erased from many of the copied plates. When the attention of the editor was called to this injustice, he replied: "The cutting out of Mützel's name was a business necessity."!

If, in spite of the above facts, the cuts in question were sold to the publishers of the Standard Natural History by the publishers of Brehm's Thierleben, I withdraw so much of my original charge as may be inferred to imply commercial piracy; but I by no meams retract the charge of moral piracy— the greater offense of the two, because it has no legal redress.

Is the deliberate reproduction of another's pictures without credit less censurable than the reproduction of another's words or ideas? And what shall one say when the sin of plagiarism is darkened by the erasure of the artist's name, so that neither artist nor author may be known?

Just why Dr. Coues mentioned his Key to North American Birds, and his publishers, Estes & Lauriat, who by the way were not the publishers of the Standard Natural History, is hard to understand, inasmuch as neither were mentioned in the review to which he takes exception.

Since the above note was sent to SCIENCE I have received a letter from the publishers of Brehm's Thierleben in Leipsic. They state that they sold to Estes & Lauriat certain electrotypes from Brehm, to be used by Estes & Lauriat only, 'under an agreement according to which it was forbidden to Messrs. Estes & Lauriat to resell these electrotypes.' They state further: “As we had been informed that notwithstanding this settlement our electrotypes had been resold, we called Messrs. Estes & Lauriat to account, and they were forced to confess that they had resold the electrotypes" to three different firms!

In reply to my question: "Were the electrotypes sold by you to S. E. Cassino & Co., and published in the Standard Natural

History with your knowledge and consent," they state: "We answer No! These electrotypes had not been sold by us to Messrs. S. E. Cassino & Co., and were used without our permission in the said works. Besides, we are still at issue with Messrs. Estes & Lauriat, Boston, on account of this affair." C. HART MERRIAM.]

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

Report on Water Supply; Geological Survey of New Jersey. By CORNELIUS CLARKSON VERMEULE, Consulting Engineer. Vol. III. of the Final Report of the State Geologist. 1894.

The Geological Survey of New Jersey has just issued a report bearing the above title, the interest and value of which are not limited by State lines. Its author, under whose direction the topographic map of the State was made, has had the best of opportunities for studying the questions involved, and has not failed to avail himself of them. The results of his study have been put in as simple and available form as possible, considering the complex nature of the problems.

The range of interests touched by the report is great. It will be of inestimable value to cities and communities which draw or may draw their supply of water from the streams of the State, and to manufacturers who use or may use the power afforded by them. Less directly, but not less certainly, the report will be of great value in the same lines outside the State, since many of the principles developed are of general and some of them of universal application. The report also contains discussions and suggestions which have a bearing on agriculture and forestry, the latter of which is just now attracting wide attention in this and other States. The educational value of the report is great, not only to those whose financial and sanitary interest are touched by it, but also to students of hydrography and geology, and to intelligent citizens in general. From this

standpoint, its value lies not only in what it proves and affirms, but also in what it disproves and denies. It is scarcely too much to say that there is not a community or a class in the State which may not be benefited by the intelligent study of the volume before us.

The study of the water resources of the State was begun by Professor Cook long ago. As early as 1868 the subject was discussed by him, and the annual reports of the State Geologist have since made frequent reference to the subject, and have reported the progress of the work, the results of which are now embodied in this volume. Interest in the questions of which it treats has been stimulated by the rapid growth in population, especially in the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia. In 1882, 587,760 people in New Jersey were dependent for water upon systems of public supply. In 1894 this number had nearly doubled, while the amount of daily consumption had increased from about 49,000,000 gallons to about 108,000,000. Of this amount, 100,000,000 gallons were drawn from streams. If the population of the State continues to increase at the present rate for another half century, and if the demand for water keeps pace with the increase in population, as is sure to be the case, it is evident that another half century will make heavy demands upon the available supply of water which the State affords. On the basis of the recent rate of increase in population, it is estimated that by 1950 that part of New Jersey adjacent to New York City will need 547,000,000 gallons of water daily; and the author remarks that "since fifty years cannot be considered a long time in the future for which to make provision, it is evident that the time has come for us to know what our resources are and to provide for their preservation and wise development" (p. 6).

The investigation of the water resources

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of the State has involved a careful study of the relation between precipitation and stream flow. This study has led to some very important conclusions, the data for which are drawn not merely from within the State of New Jersey, but from all available sources. The analysis of the facts has led Mr. Vermeule to the conclusion that a formula may be adopted which shall express with approximate accuracy the relation between rainfall and evaporation, within the basins of the streams studied. This formula is E=15.50+.16 R, in which E= total annual evaporation, R= annual precipitation, and 15.50 stand for inches of water. minus E will equal the annual flow of the river in question. A modification of the formula for mean annual temperature is suggested, and in this modified form it becomes universal. In this connection it is stated that a careful study of the annual precipitation and flow of variously widely separated streams "has practically demonstrated that the difference in amount discharged (by streams) for given rainfalls is due almost entirely to increase or decrease of evaporation owing to increased or decreased annual temperature" (p. 75); and that temperature is a much more potent factor than forests, topography, or the other causes usually assigned' (p. 77) to account for the variations in the discharges of streams. So thoroughly is evaporation believed to be dependent on temperature that "the (river) gaugings (representing the rainfall which does not evaporate) actually indicate the mean temperature of the water sheds more closely than we can obtain it from available temperature observations" (p. 334). It will be readily seen that the formulæ noted above, and the principles which go along with them, greatly simplify the whole question of the relation of rainfall and stream flow, and are of the greatest importance to all interests dependent on streams, or effected by them. For

mulæ are deduced for calculating the proportion of rainfall which disappears by evaporation for each month, and for determining the flow of a stream for any given month, the rainfall and temperature of its basin being known.

Of immediate practical value to the citizens of the State are the detailed data concerning the streams of New Jersey. These data include the total, the average and the minimum flow of each stream of the state, the available and the utilized power, etc., etc. The data are combined in various ways with a view to making them useful in various directions.

Popular ideas to the contrary notwithstanding, statistics show that there has been a slow but steady increase in the use of water power within the State. While many small powers have been abandoned, this loss has been made more than good by the establishment of larger ones. The total amount now in use is about 31,000 horse power. Pertinent suggestions are offered as to the further utilization of the power afforded by the streams.

Forests are thought not to influence the annual evaporation or stream flow to any marked extent, nor to influence particularly extreme floods. With deforesting, however, comes increased irregularity of stream flow, including more frequent moderate floods, lower flow of streams during periods of drought, and more protracted periods of low flow (page 344). Care is taken to emphasize the beneficial effects of forests in preserving soil on slopes, in creating absorbent matter (humus, etc.), which holds the water and helps to equalize its flow.

Cultivation is thought not to greatly affect the total stream flow, though it affects its regularity. It increases the absorbent capacity of the soil, and so the total flow from underground water, while under drainage tends to produce irregularity of flow. "As between cultivated and barren water