584 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Aug. 2, 1920. 



That any organism is the actual cause of a disease can only be demonstrated 

 by a series of infection experiments carefully carried out, and these take 

 time, but in the meantime (additional to the foregoing precautions) strict 

 attention to the selection of healthy suckers from healthy stock, and the 

 rejection of those showing internal signs of disease (the red threads can be 

 seen where the sucker has been detached from the parent corm) is 

 recommended as the surest method 61 eliminating bunchy top. 



As still further precautions, the cut end of suckers should be dipped in 

 lime before being planted, and places from which bunchy top plants have 

 been removed should have lime dug into them, and new plants should not be 

 set in such spots for a considerable period. 



Wanted — A Nucleus of Activity in Rural Centres. 



Unless country life provides more avenues than are open at present for the 

 fsmployment of leisure time, it is certain that the drift to the towns, which 

 was so noticeable in the past, will continue. In order to prevent this exodus 

 to the towns the great need of the village is, in the Committee's opinion, the 

 improvement of the social life of the countryside. The rural problem is 

 essentially a problem of re-creating the rural community, of developing new 

 social traditions and a new culture. What is needed is to establish in the 

 village a living nucleus of communal activity which will serve as a centre for 

 the satisfaction of the social and intellectual needs of the people. Such a 

 nucleus the Committee conceives to be a village institute, under full public 

 control. — Extract from a report <>n the problem of adult education, issued 

 by the Ministry of Reconstruction, London, 



The Effect of Coal Smoke on Vegeta^tion. 



The main detrimental effects of air pollution by coal smoke upon vegetation 

 may he summarised as follows : — 



1. The cloud of smoke blocks out the sunlight, and thus reduces the 

 available solar energy by, in some cases, as much as 40 per cent. 



2. The thick deposit on the leaves of plants and " trees still further blocks 

 out the light. 



3. The choking of the stomata by the tarry glutinous matter tends to 

 asphyxiate the plant, and effectively to check its power of assimilation of 

 carbon dioxide. 



4. The presence of free acids in the air tends generally to lower the 

 vitality of the plant. 



b'. The free acids falling on the soil make it sour, and thus limit the 

 activity of the soil organisms, which must work freely if the ,soil is to 

 maintain its fertility. — A. G. llusTON, in the Journal of the Ministry of 

 Agriculture, London. 



