70 THE PLANT WORT-D. 



the nursery area each year. \Mien the trees, at the end of three 

 years, must be taken up. they can be given to the parents of the 

 children or can be sold. If sold the money would go to the 

 school to establish a library or for other useful purposes." 



It is also suggested that a long time on one dav given to the 

 vvork would be better than a short period on several different 

 days. 



Relation of Amides to Plant Growth. — According to Na- 

 ture Jules Lefevre gave an account before the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences on November 20, 1905, of experiments showing that 

 when green plants are grown in a soil containing amides, their 

 growth is accompanied by a rapid increase in dry weight, although 



they are deprived of carbon-dioxide. 



C. S. G. 



REVIEWS. 



The Book of the Rothauisted Experiments. By A. D. Hall. 



Pp. xl -f- 294. London : John Murray. 1905. 



The manor of Rothamsted is situated in the parish of Harp- 

 enden, Herts. England. In 1837 John Bennet Lowes, lord of the 

 manor, began experiments in pots with agricultural plants and 

 various manures. In 1843 Dr. J. H. Gilbert became associated 

 with hini in this work. The duration and extent of their labors 

 is indicated by the following inscription on a granite monument 

 erected in 1893 in front of the Rothamsted laboratory: " To com- 

 memorate the completion of fifty years of continuous experiments 

 (the first of their kind) in agriculture, conducted at Rothamsted 

 by Sir John Bennet Lowes and Joseph Henry Gilbert, A. D. 

 MDCCCXCIII." 



As the inscription states, such experiments on such a scale in 

 scientific agriculture had never before been conducted. It was 

 Sir John Lowes who introduced the manufacture of artificial 

 manures, and this alone ranks him as one of the greatest bene- 

 factors of agriculture. 



The present volume gives a summary in seventeen chapters of 

 part of the experiments carried out during the fifty years colab- 

 oration of Mr. Lowes and Dr. Gilbert. The book is of more than 



