Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-05-02
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT Is DOING

vAscineuon u favored ~ the medi-
world, By the sanitarians. health off,
GERS. and all others having to do with
health problems, together with q very
large proportion of the Intelligent pub
lie everywhere. The alacrity with
cination In times of danger shows their
confidence in the measure. The evil
dence in It's favor Is so overwhelming
that one IL lost In amusement that its
value can be Questioned in these en-
lightened days. Is 1t reasonable to
suppose for moment that the great
mass Of intelligent people the world
over Is wrong on this matter and that
the few persistent agitators are right?
II the wonderful benefit Of vaccination
has not been proved, then nothing In
the world is susceptible of proof"
Just when the annual northern fight
Of the hundreds Of thousands of mi
grAtery American
Facts Of Bird birds is in full prog
Miuro4;o, ross the biological
"Asf"'Aon' survey Of tho Depart
ment Of Agriculture Is making known
many Of the secrets as to bird migra-
ton that have only recently come to
light after twenty-five years Of study.
The data on which tho survey has
based its fairly complete picture of
migration have been contributed not
only by It's star Of ornitholoEists. but
by moro than 1000 cooperating indi-
vidual observers in North and South
America and the West Indies. Altogeth-
er more than 100000 observations are
represented in tho data in tho hands
Of the survey.
Migration. the survey has developed.
Is not merely matter Of north and
south movement. with a given degree
of temperature. The widest differences
as to migratory habits prevail among
the feathered Inhabitants and sojourn-
ers of the United States and Canada.
At one extreme are such birds as the
quail. that live and die without going
and at the other the arctic terms, that
spend the northern summers near the
north pole and other months Of the
year in the icy regions of the antarc-
nest in the northern part of the United
States and Canada are content to spend
their winters in the gulf states. but
more than hundred species go to Cen
trail and South America for the winter
season. The routes of the various birds
to their winter feeding grounds vary
widely, but by far the ma jority of the
migrants avoid the land trip through
Texas and tho modified land trip by
way of Cuba and the Lesser Antilles,
mile expanse Of the Gulf of Mexico.
This water flight Is negotiated in
single night even by the diminutive
humming bird.
The wintering places Of many Of the
migrants has been determined, as have
their routes Of flight. Some kinds of
birds arc not content with their trip
to Mexico or northern South America,
but continue their flights beyond the
equator to the pampas of Argentina.
Some of the best known birds that nest
in North America make these long win
ter journeys. The scarlet tanager mi
crates from Canada to Peru. The New
England bobo1inks winter in Brazil,
and with them go such common birds
as cliff swallows. nighthawks and some
thrushes. Black-poll warblers that nest
in Alaska migrate 5000 miles to the
southern coast of the Caribbean sea.
probably held by the nighthawk. whose
northernmost representatives frequent
Alaska during the nesting season and
fly at the approach Of winter as far
south as Patagonia, moro than 5000
miles away.
The longest known migrations are
those Of the arctic terms between the
two polar regions, but what the track
of their flight is and by what stages it
is made IS still ono Of the mysteries of
ported seeing their flights. Another
water bird, the golden plover, makes
the longest known single flight of any
bird. winging Its way from Nova Scotia
of South America. In fair weather the
birds fly past Bermuda on their 1900
mile course without stopping. Almost as
remarkable flight Is that Of the gold
flies unerringly from Alaska to the
Hawaiian Islands. 1000 miles distant.
The reason for the great periodical
migrations that redistribute myriads of
birds over the northern and southern
hemispheres is not clearly known. ac-
cording to the biological survey. Food
needs are known to play an important
part and weather conditions are under
stood to affect food conditions. Many
birds. however. do not wait for changes
in temperature. but seem, the surveys
ornothologists and, to be impelled to
make their journeys from some inner
feeling. Some birds are known to be-
gin their southwark flights as early as
ed out by the biological survey. was
probably fixed ages ago by the advance
and recession of the Ice sheets that
covered much of North America during
the glacial period; There is practically
no migration of birds in South America,
from the tropics to the temperate zone.
it has been found.
The interest that the government has
shown in radium for use in surgery and
the pure sciences Is not
Radium as a likely to extend to the
p., use Of the element and
rei'lilze1' its products as fer
tilizer for general agricultural pur-
poses Claims have been put forward
lately for so-cailed radioactive ma
nures as farm fertilizers, but investi-
gators of the Department of Agricul-
ture do not find that the claims have
been supported by practical tests.
A study and review of the expert
ments that have been made by various
investigators was completed recently
by W. II. Ross of the bureau of soils of
the Department Of Agriculture. The
opinion reached by him is that 1t seems
incredible that radium or any Of It's
products can have economical applica-
ton as q fertilizer in general farming.
It seems still less credible. he thinks.
that the radioactive manures have any
value as fertilizers in so far as their
radio-activity Is concerned. since there
II about 100 times as much radium al
ready present in the surface foot of
soil covering an acre as in the quantity
Of radioactive manure usually recon-
Radium has already proved valuable
in botanical research. and may be found
of value in greenhouse practice where
results obtained can Justify the cost.
Mr. Ross says experiments have shown
that the radio-elements. when freed
from their ores. may stimulate the ger
mination Of seeds and the growth of
plants. The application Of the exceed
ingly expensive isolated elements to
A1