The news & observer., 1904-12-04


crease as fast as the scale, and this
winter we will use the lime, sulphur
and salt mixture made in the way Mr.
Brown, of Delaware. uses il, by slak-
ing the lime and sulphur together and
then adding the salt and water
enough to spray. Forty pounds OF
lime, 20 of sulphur and 16 of salt, and
then add enough water to make Sixty
gallons. We have faith in this, 1or
We know that whitewash itself is at
times effective in smothering the scale
when it will stick long enough.
In the last session of Congress the
Hon. H. G.. Adams, of Wisconsin IN :
troduced a bill providing for a grad
ual increaseof the National approprla-
ton for the Agricultural EXPERIMENT
Stations to twice its present amount:
This bill was unanimously reported
by the Committee on Agriculture OF
the House and is now on the calen-
dar. Mr. Adams was candidate for
recollection and in his campaign told
the peopIe of his district that he was
working to advance their interests
through increasing the income OF the
Experiment Stations. his neaVy ma
ioritv 'of between 5000 and 1000
shows that the farmers We're with
him. 1t is his hope to secure the pas
sage of his bill at the coming session
Now let the farmers of the country
and of PENNSYLVANIA in particular,
make sure that he has the support of
their Senators and Representatives in
Congress.
Editor CollingWood, of the Rural
New Yorker, says that stone under
drain is, at best, a makeshift. That
Will depend on how it is made. If
one has rock that will split flat he
can make as good and permanent a
ha a.
terial A number of years ago we had
on an old place in Maryland, spring
at the foot of lawn. At least sew
eral generations had used 1t as
spring, and to all intents and purposes
it was a spring. But one day we
found water rising on the lawn above
the spring, and on digging down we
found one of the best constructed
stone drains we ever saw, which had
gotten choked by some willow roots
Tracing it up we found the real spring
over two hundred feet above what had
for an hundred years been used as Il
spring. The drain mad been made to
carry the spring water across the
lawn. and for ut least 100 years 1T had
answered its purpose we'll. we re-
moved the roots and repaired 1T, ana IL
no more roots have gotten into 1t we
have no doubt that the stone dram
is still carrying that spring. Thls
drain was made by setting flat rocks
on edge and covering with 2notnef
fiat rock making the passageWay SIX
inches square in cross section. About
seventeen years ago we drained a
very wet piece of bottom land in the
Virginia mountains, with piiie poIt
laid side by side and another on top.
Pine leaves were placed on top 10
keep the earth out, and now ttlat
piece of land grows fine clover where
before the pole drains We're laid ice
.3,Ixy on in
course tiles are the best materlal Tor
general use but where one cannot
afford tiles he need not hesitate 70
drain with rocks, or even pine poles,
and be reasonably sure of getting 5000
results.
Scientific Orthodoxy.
The men at the head of the Bureau
of Soils in the Department OF Agrl-
culture at Washington, seem 70 nave
set VI. their work as published in the
famous Bulletin No. %, as the stand
ard of orthodoxy in science 50 lar as
the investigation of the soil is con-
cerned. Prof. Z. II. KING, whose
reputation as an accurate student OF
soils is second to none in Europe or
America. was recently connected with
this Bureau of Orthodoxy. He made
experiments on plate OF TWO acres
each, at Goldsboro, n. c., Upper MARI
boro, Md, Lancaster, Pa, and James
apDlication of staple manure to crops
and TO the soluble salts in the SOIL
His results did not agree with the
orthodox Bulletin No. y, and the
High Priest Of the Bureau refused to
allow his bulletins to be pupllshed.
Then of course, Prof King resigns,
ard now sends out the bulletins at
his own expense. AS quoted by Dr.
HiIgard. of California, in Science
for November 4th, the sum ming up OF
Prof Kings work is as follows: me
observations here presented, poth
upon the soils and upon the plants
which had grown upon them, make
il clear that when farmyard manure
is applied 10 fields it has the erect
NOT only of increasing the yields, Dut
at the same time of increasing the
amounts of water soluble salts Whlch
can be recovered from the soils them
selves and from the plants which nave
grown upon them.
,rbis of course, was rank hetero-
doxy. for had not the Bureau IN the
Bulletin Nc % said that while Ter
tiliZers do sometimes ana even ire
mently." seem to increase productloh'
vet since the aqueous soil solution IS
.,I,yavs the same composition in all
coils il follows that all soils contain
Sufficient available plant food to MAIN
tain productVeness lndeflnltely ana
tI,at She moisture 3Ipply IS me one
controlling condition. climate per
ting" Hence, as DIR. Hiigard Says
.3rhe Bureau of Soils is now rid OF q
confurlacious il.subordin7te person,
who refuses to subscribe to his chief 5
scientific dicta as set forth in Bulletin
M. q, which. if it Well known has
not received the assent or single
scientist of weight, and has peen con
trovcrted and repudiated boln IN
America and Europe by all VINO nave
taken any notice of 1t. IL - @ iloL
only "a deliberate attempt TO suppress
the truth, but it indicates on the part
of the morally resnoasible head or the
bureau more han child-iIke con-
fiGence in the permanent success OF
he obscdrdntist regime such as IS
practiced and defended by Pony econ :
ostseff. Yet il is doubtful that even
the latter by the pulsant head OF the
Russian Empire himself would under
take to pass the censor's black brush
over inductive scientific papers like
those of King. King has uttered his
c pur st n.uove' by the publication
Of his rejected papers; it now be-
hooves the scientific men of the coun-