Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 7.djvu/390

376 been careless. After discussing the subject very fully, the author concludes with these words: "I would say to those agriculturists of the East who are in any way alarmed by what has been written on this subject, and who hesitate to use the Paris-green mixture—profit by the experience of your more Western brethren, and do not allow the voracious Doryphora to destroy your potatoes, when so simple and cheap a remedy is at hand."

The aggregate loss to Missouri farmers, in 1874, from the chinch-bug, is estimated at $19,000,000. The only measure at present known to be effectual against this pest, when it has spread, is irrigation. On the subject of the grape Phylloxera, Prof. Riley is an authority both at home and in Europe. A few facts, of interest to entomologists, in the life-history of this insect, are noted in the present volume. Mr. Riley gives a brief narrative of the researches made in France during the year, with a view to discovering a means of destroying this pest. Dumas's method is as follows: A hole is bored with an auger in the earth, near the foot of the vine, and in it are placed about four ounces of alkaline sulphocarbonate. By decomposition the sulphuret of carbon is formed, which kills the Phylloxera, without injuring the vine. We see, from the report of a recent meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, that this method "has been tried with great success in several of the more important vine-growing districts."

The territory in Missouri ravaged by the Rocky Mountain locust in 1866, and again in 1874, is represented in a map, in which is also indicated the direction in which the insects came during the latter year. Last May the Governor of Missouri proclaimed a day of fasting and humiliation as a stratagem in the anti-locust war. Prof. Riley, last year, "prophesied" that the locusts of 1874 would come too late to do much damage. He then asserted, and now asserts, that beyond the extreme western tier of counties Missouri need not dread these invaders. The event has confirmed the accuracy of Prof Riley's conclusions. The Governor would have done well had he given ear to this truthful prophet, before he uttered his cry of distress.

object of this little work, as the author says, is to furnish tables by which the student may, with as few easy tests as possible, determine with precision, and classify, minerals found in the United States, and become familiar with their principal characteristics.

neater, as respects typography and book-making, can be found in any educational document East. The table of examinations of teachers shows, in the large number of rejections, that honest work is attempted. Superintendent McAllister's scheme for uniform examination of the schools seems to us philosophical.

is a morceau of Lieutenant Wheeler's Reports. Of this essay the writer says it completes the determination of the fossil vertebrate species obtained in the Eocene of New Mexico during the field-work of 1874. The total species of mammalia is forty-seven, of which this essay "introduces twenty-four for the first time," besides some reptilia and fishes.

The Keys of the Creeds. Pp. 200. New York: Putnams. Price, $1.25.

The Miracle of To-Day. By Charles B. Warring. Pp. 292. New York: Scheimerhorn & Co. Price, $2.00.

Heat, Light, Electricity, and Magnetism. By Charles Skelton, M. D. Pp. 75. Trenton, N. J.: Naar, Day & Naar.

Curious Anomaly in the History of Larvæ of Acronycta Oblinita. By Thomas G. Gentry. Pp. 30.

Mysteries of Hierarchy. Pp. 14.