Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/879

Rh the Laramie plains and the altitude of 7,000 feet is represented by the Wyoming University experiment farm of 610 acres in Albany County, irrigated from the Pioneer Canal; the North Platte Valley and the altitude of 6,000 feet, by the Saratoga experiment farm of 40 acres, also under irrigation, in Carbon County; the northern part of the State and the altitude of 4,000 feet, by the Sheridan farm of 50 acres, under irrigation, in Sheridan County; northeastern Wyoming, with the greatest rainfall and the altitude of 4.500 feet, by the Sundanee farm of 49 acres, to be carried on without irrigation, in Crook County; and southeastern Wyoming, the Sybille Valley, and the altitude of 5,000 feet, by the Wheatland farm, under irrigation, in Laramie County. This distribution gives a good representation of the agricultural and grazing lands of the State; but other experiment farms will be established as the station funds permit. Researches are now in progress as to the capacity of gypsum to absorb and retain moisture. Special experiments have been instituted with varieties of grass and forage plants to be grown without irrigation.

Strychnine and Snake-bite.—The treatment of snake-bite with injections of strychnine illustrates the antagonistic action of poisons upon one another. Dr. Mueller, of Yackandandah, Victoria, in a case in his practice, used a solution of nitrate of strychnine in water with a little glycerin, hypodermically injected, with a frequency which was determined by the symptoms. When all symptoms had disappeared, the first independent action of the strychnine was shown by slight muscular spasms. The injections must be discontinued then, unless the snake-poison reasserts itself. In some cases a grain or more of strychnine was used within a few hours. The two poisons are thoroughly antagonistic, and no hesitation need be felt in pushing the use of the drug to quantities that would be fatal in the absence of snake-poison.

Irrigation in Egypt.—According to a note contributed to Nature by Sir Colin Moncrieff, the problem of perennial irrigation in Egypt has been satisfactorily solved, and that without the aid of the corvée, or forced labor. The subject of irrigation is treated under two broad subdivisions—the irrigation effected by the Nile flood, when there is rich, muddy water in abundance for a land three times as large as Egypt, and when every one considers it his absolute right to have his fields flooded without the expense or trouble of raising the water artificially; and the irrigation effected by the Nile at its lowest, in May and June, when it is only by the strictest economy that an area not exceeding one fourth of the whole of Egypt can be irrigated. It has now been made possible to raise the water in the river and divert it into the canals by the completion of a barrage or dam at the apex of the Delta. Such a dam was built several years ago, but soon after it was finished it cracked in an alarming way, and was not used. It cost originally about £2,000,000, and has now been put in a condition to fulfill the purpose for which it was intended, for the sum of about £460,000. This result is contrasted with the estimate of M. Linant, a former Government engineer, in 1872, that it would probably cost more to repair the existing barrage than to build a new one, and proposed pumping instead, at a cost of £465,000 per annum. Drainage for carrying off the superfluous water, which was not provided for in the French plans, is amply effected under the new system.

Bahama Fairy Tales.—The fairy tales of the negroes of the Bahamas, as described by Mr. Charles L. Edwards in a paper on that subject, are strongly localized, and built into a folk lore that is at once peculiar and interesting. The negro children are for the most part the medium of perpetuating them, but the conventional negro dialect is considerably modified by an intermixture of cockney and of correct English pronunciations. The same tale narrated by different persons, and by the same person at different times, will vary in the pronunciation of some of the words, and in unimportant details of the plot. The tales are divided by the narrators into "old stories" and "fairy stories," of which the former include the folk lore proper. The fairy stories have generally suffered modification in their transition into Bahama lore, and in some cases it is very difficult to detect the original. The "old