THE spray pump promises to be as important an invention for the horticulturist as the cotton gin was for the cotton planter.

MR. J. F. DURYEA, the inventor of one of the most successful of the motor wagons, is turning his attention to its application to the farm wagon, and in a form that will permit of its being utilized to drive the wagon, a thresher or the stationary machinery of the farm. He considers it entirely practicable.

D. L. HOLDEN, a New York inventor, has perfected a method for making artificial ice at a cost not to exceed fifty cents a ton. It is an automatic plant whereby the evaporation of ammonia, which passes through large cylinders in a revolving tank filled with filtered water, will produce ice crystals that are compressed into available blocks.

A CARBON harder than the diamond has been discovered by M. Moisson. It is a compound of carbon and boron, produced by heating boracic acid and carbon in an electric furnace at a temperature of five thousand degrees. It will even cut diamonds, and is likely to supersede them for boring rock, cutting glass, and other industrial purposes. It can be produced in pieces of any required size.

Two machines, perambulating fumigators, have been designed for the United States marine hospital, to be used in exterminating epidemic diseases in cities. One is a chamber in which infected clothing and other articles can be thoroughly. saturated with hot steam; the other is a sulphur fumigator provided with apparatus for disinfecting houses, the fumes being driven into the building through rubber hose. These machines can be sent post haste to any house where contagious or infectious disease breaks out.

THE bicycle represents the greatest carrying power, according to its weight, of any vehicle that has ever been constructed. Farm Machinery calls attention to this as a most interesting suggestion to the constructors of vehicles of whatsoever char

acter. The freight car carries twice its weight twenty miles an hour; the farm wagon carries about the same proportion of load to weight not more than six miles an hour under the best conditions, generally not more than four; the bicycle carries seven to eight times its weight ten miles an hour, and apparently with no greater risk of breakage.

To produce a light without any carbon, such as is used in the incandescent light, is one of the great problems which Edison and Tesla have been striving to solve, and both have announced discoveries in this direction which are big with future possibilities. The principle has been discovered of producing light by electrical vibration, and Tesla claims that 200 times the light can be obtained from the same power. Edison has perfected a lamp which produces the X rays in a form that may be utilized for house lightingable lamps. He is simplifying and studying the process of construction, so as to

mov

make the invention of commercial value.

THE NEW LIGHT. Edison announces that he has completely succeeded in producing a new light, which he calls the "fluorescent light." It is simpler than the incandescent and in every way preferable.

A low

The same style of globe is used, but the whole globe is aglow with a brilliant white light of wonderful illuminating power, instead of the carbon filament. Crystals of tungstate are welded to the inside of the globe, a partial vacuum is created and the light is produced by molecules of air in rapid vibration striking against the tungstate crystals. current of electricity is employed, and whereas in the incandescent light only 5 per cent is utilized as light, there is no perceptible heat from the new light. Its power is greater, at a much lower cost, than any light ever before produced. have only just begun to get used to the incandescent lights through their general introduction and use, and now comes a substitute, which is likely to supplant them as rapidly as they were originally introduced, from the same inventor.

We

$250,000 of debenture still remain in the treasury.

The directors in London are Colonel W. J. Engledue, Earl of Winchelsea, Lord Clanmorris, Lord Ernest Hamilton, Robert J. Price, M. P., John Ferguson, Dr. Boyd and R. Chetham-Strode.

The local directors are Mr. W. T. Thornton, Governor of New Mexico, Edwin C. Roberts, of El Paso, Texas, Joshua S. Raynolds, President of First National Bank of El Paso, Dr. John M. Yair and Henry D. Bowman, banker of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The engineer of the company is John L. Campbell of El Paso, Texas.

If successfully carried out this will be one of the largest irrigation enterprises in the country, and later on we hope to be able to give further particulars in regard to the system which the company proposes to follow, and which embraces some features of peculiar interest.

THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT

STATIONS.

Nearly forty-five years ago, a company of farmers joined themselves together in the little German village of Moeckern, near the city of Leipsic, and under the influence of the Leipsic University, called a chemist to their aid and (with later help from government) organized the first agricultural experiment station. Liebig in Germany, Boussingault in France, Lawes and Gilbert in England, and other great pioneers had been blazing the path of progress for years before. A great deal of research bearing upon agriculture had been and is still being carried on in the schools and universities, but the action of these Saxon agriculturists in 1851 marks the beginning of the experiment station proper, the organization of scientific research and with the aid of government "as a necessary and permanent branch of agricultural business."

The seed thus sown has brought forth manyfold. In 1856 there were five; in 1861, fifteen; in 1866, thirty; and today their are more than one hundred experiment stations and kindred institutions in the different countries of Europe. Some are connected with the great universities or agricultural technical schools, others are independent and supported by societies.

In each of them, from one to ten or more investigators are engaged in the discovery of the laws that underlie the practice of farming, and in finding how they are best applied.

So rapid and so sure has been the progress of this enterprise in both hemispheres, that private persons, educators, societies, and governments have learned the usefulness and indeed the necessity of these institutions, not for the farmer alone, but for all who are dependent upon the products of the soil. The movement is extending to Asia and to South America;everywhere, indeed, its importance is coming to be felt.-From "The People's Food-A Great National Inquiry," in June Review of Reviews.

PROGRESS IN NEW ZEALAND.

WHAT

HAT is yet but a hope or prophecy with us, regarding many questions of social and political importance, has become ancient history to the inhabitants of that little island country away off in the southwest corner of the world. Mr. A. D. Willis, a member of the New Zealand Parliament, was lately in this country, and gave the following information to a reporter for the daily press :

"There are over 2,000 miles of railway in New Zealand, nearly all owned by the government. Our system of managing them cannot be beaten. There is no corruption and not a single abuse. The telegraph system belongs entirely to the government.

Then we have a government system of insurance which works admirably. Through this we are abolishing all pensions. All government employes, including those connected with the railroads and telegraph system, are compelled to provide for their own insurance out of their salaries.

Our taxation is based on Henry George's theory of a single tax on land, but we have also an income tax. Land improved and unimproved pays the same tax. Under our income tax we exempt all incomes under £300 a year, and on incomes from £300 to £1,000 the rate is sixpence per pound. On incomes from £1,000 to £2,000 the rate increases from sixpence to a shilling, and on all incomes above £2,000 it remains a shilling on the pound.

Last year we adopted a system of lending money to farmers, on both free-hold and leasehold lands, at a low rate of interest, with a 1 per cent. sinking fund, which clears off the loan in thirty-three years by compound interest.

In every way we look carefully to the interests of the mass of the people. Our factory girls are not allowed to work over eight hours

a day, children are not allowed to work in factories under fourteen years of age, and until they have passed through certain grades in the schools. We compel employers in factories to give a weekly half holiday. No shops are allowed to open on Sunday, and every shop must close one day in the week at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The closing of the shops on Sunday was not at all on secular grounds, but simply to give employes a reasonable amount of rest."

FLOW OF IRRIGATION STREAMS.

THE following information is furnished

by Prof. L. G. Carpenter, of the Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colo. :

was

The Cache a la Poudre river is a stream. typical of those of the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains, and is one of which there is the longest and the most continuous record. A self-recording instrument placed on the stream in 1884. The years of high water in one stream are usually the same with others, as the meteorologi. cal conditions causing a heavy or light snowfall over the mountain watersheds are usually the same. So closely alike are the conditions of melting, that frequently the highest stage of water will be reached by a number of streams on the same day. Up to the present date, June 17, the Cache a la Poudre has been unusually low,

So far,

mountains gave reason to expect. the year compares with 1888 and 1889, which were unusually low. The highest water, due to melting snow, was reached on May 29, when there was 1,900 cubic feet per second at the time of highest water of the day. On May 30 and 31 the river was higher, reaching 3,340 second-feet for a short time on the 30th, due to heavy rain. Since then the river has fallen steadily, and the daily fluctuation due to the melting by day and the freezing by night in the upper elevations, is becoming less noticeable. For the week ending June 9, the average was 1,378 cubic feet per second, while the average of the eleven previous years was 2,272 second-feet, showing a decrease of 900 cubic feet per second. For the week ending June 17, the average has been 1,180 second-feet, which is 800 feet less than the average for eleven years. This is 100 feet less than in 1888 for the same time, notwithstanding that in 1896 water is received from the Laramie river by works constructed within the last few years.

information has been extracted from the volume on Artesian Wells by Walter Gibbons Cox, C. E.:

At the Carthusian Monastery at Sillers, France, is an artesian well still flowing that was bored in the twelfth century.

In Algeria and the Sahara desert 12,000,000 acres of land have been reclaimed and irrigated by means of artesian wells. The aggregate flow from all the wells is estimated at 80,000,000 gallons daily.

Prussia is credited with the deepest bore in the world, namely, that at Rybuik, Upper Silesia, made by the German government for scientific purposes. The depth to date is 6,565 feet.

In the United States the deepest successful bore for water is in Virginia, where the extraordinary depth of 5,060 feet was reached.

The Winton bore in Queensland, Australia, is 3,995 feet deep with a flow of 1,100,000 gallons daily.

There are two artesian wells in South Australia, each flowing 1,200,000 gallons daily.

*3 days only.

New South Wales has a well, 1,729 feet deep, flowing 4,000,000 gallons daily, and another 1,638 feet deep with a flow of 2,000,000 gallons.

With the exception of the Dakota basin the artesian basin of Queensland, embracing an area of 376,832 square miles is the largest yet discovered in the world.

At Burrandilla, Queensland, two startling overflows were secured, one of 4,000,000 and the other of 2,500,000 gallons daily. No. 2 bore at Charlotte Plains, depth 1,848 feet, 4,000,000. Coreena bores, No. 2 and No. 5 respectively 1,500,000 and 1,000,000. Tinnenburra, seven bores, threw out 8,000,000 gallons of fine water daily. Boatman bore No. 1 discharges 4,200,000. It is estimated that at the present time 350 private bores in the colony of Queensland are flowing over one thousand million gallons of water daily.

FRESH MINING NEWS.

It is predicted that the production of gold this year in California, Washington, Oregon and Alaska will be a considerable increase over that of 1895 which was $2,384,560 greater than in 1894.

Copper mining seems to be especially prosperous. Extensive additions are being made to the smelting plant of the United Verde Copper Company, at Jerome, Arizona, which is already one of the largest smelting plants in the country.

The Rothschilds have bought the remainder of the interest of the Hearst estate in the Anaconda mines of Montana. They bought 270,000 shares in the last purchase on a basis of $45,000,000 for the property, yielding about $7,000,000 to the

estate.

The Engineering and Mining Journal has twice recently made reference to the extraordinary activity in the development of Utah mines. From all over the Territory old mines are being more extensively worked and new ones of great promise are being opened.

The Bennett placer machine is in successful operation on Green River, Utah, by the South Park Mining Company. The machine is run by electricity, and performs every detail of placer mining automatically,

from shoveling up the gravel to saving the gold on the plates.

The new furnace of the United Verde Copper Company, at Jerome, Arizona, the largest in the world has been put in blast. By a new process, originating with local parties, the ore is roasted and treated with the same facility and in the same time as is required for unroasted ore.

passed in the last days of the recent ConThe general deficiency bill which was gress makes provision for the assaying and sampling of lead and silver ores that are imported into this country, principally from Mexico and British Columbia. Sam

Texas, Northport, Washington, and Bonpling works are to be erected at El Paso, ner's Ferry, Idaho.

A company is being formed to construct a cyanide process plant at Atlantic City to treat the ores of South Pass in Fremont county, Wyoming. It will have a capacity for the treatment of several hundred tons a day, of which there are large dumps to be worked at that place. They are obtaining as much now from the tailings as was obtained from the first working of the ore.

The Engineering and Mining Journal in a recent issue speaks of the mining activity in Utah, which has come about through a change from the old-time conditions, and the substitution of foresight for hindsight. The introduction of new processes of treatment and more careful pros

pecting, especially directed to the discovery of gold is leading to wonderful changes. The Park City, Tintic and Bingham districts go steadily on producing and paying dividends, but with very little excitement. New discoveries of low grade gold ores are reported from the Camp Floyd district, and it is being demonstrated that ore of very low average grade can be profitably worked. The Geyser mill report for April shows the average value of the ore milled was only $3.92 per ton. The entire cost of mining and milling was but $1.97 a ton, and the profit on this low grade rock was therefore $1.95 a ton. A fifty-ton cyanide plant, therefore, yields the handsome return of about $100 a day on less than $4 ore, and it is not truly free milling. There is a good deal of ore in the district that is of much higher grade and pays well when shipped to the smelters.