Thoroughly sprayed some rose bushes badly infested with aphides, and carried off some of the worst branches. On these the lice were dead next morning; but on the bushes the effect was not so satisfactory, most of the winged forms and many mature wingless specimens were unaffected, while the terminal shoots and very young leaves were drooping as though frosted. All, however, recovered later. The same experiment repeated on other, hardier roses, resulted similarly so far as the effect on the aphides was concerned, but there was no injury to the plant. Used this same mixture on the caterpillars of _Orgyia leucostigma_ with unsatisfactory effect, and with the same results used it on a number of other larvæ. Used on the rose leaf roller, _Cacæcia rosaceana_, it was promptly effective. Tested for injury to plants, it injured the foliage and flowers of wisteria, the younger leaves of maple and grape, and the finer kinds of roses. From these few experiments kainit seems preferable to the muriate, as acting more effectively on insects and not injuriously on plants. For general use on plants it is not to be recommended. It is otherwise on underground species, where the soil will be penetrated by the salts and where the moisture evaporates but slowly, and the salt has a longer and better chance to act. The best method of application would be a broadcasting in fertilizing quantity before or during a rain, so as to carry the material into the soil at once. In cornfields infested with grubs or wire worms, the application should be made before planting. Where it is to be used to reach root lice, it should be used when the injury is beginning. When strawberry beds are infested by the white grub, the application should be made when cultivating or before setting out. The potash salts have a high value as fertilizers, and any application made will act as a stimulant as well as insecticide, thus enabling the plants to overcome the insect injury as well as destroying the insect. In speaking on this subject in Salem county, I learned from farmers present that those using potash were not troubled with the corn root louse to any extent, and also that young peach trees have been successfully grown in old lice-infested orchards, where previously all died, by first treating the soil with kainit of potash. * * * * * A meteorological station has been built on Mont Blanc, at an elevation of 13,300 feet, under the direction of M. Vallot. It required six weeks to deliver the materials. The instruments are self-registering and are to be visited in summer every fifteen days if possible, the instruments being left to register between the visits. In the winter the observatory will be entirely inaccessible. This is the highest scientific station in Europe, but is 847 feet lower than the Pike's Peak station in Colorado. * * * * * THE EXPENSE MARGIN IN LIFE INSURANCE.