8 AGRONOMY [Bot. Absts.. Vol. V . 



44. Moulton, R. H. Kudzu, the latest forage plant. Sci. Amer. Supplem. 88: 364-365. 

 5 fig. 1919. — Descriptive of a rapid-growing perennial plant, rich in protein, starch and sugar, 

 which it is asserted gives promise of becoming one of the leading sources of wealth in certain 

 sections of the U. S., especially in some of the southern states. — Cltas. II. Otis. 



45. Mundy, H. G., and J. A. T. Walters. Rotation experiments. 1913:1919. Rho- 

 desia Agric. Jour. 16: 513-520. 1919. 



46. Nagel, . Kartoffellagerungsversuche. [Potato storage experiments.] Illus- 



trierte Landw. Zeitg. 39: 6. 1919. — Contrary to the results of Noffe, who found that potatoes 

 lost the least starch when stored in a cool, dry, but well lighted place, the author's experiments 

 resulted in the least loss of both starch and sugar in potatoes stored in a cool, dry, but dark 

 place. Tables showing the percentages of loss under different conditions are given. — John 

 If". Roberts. 



47. Oldershaw, A. W. The value of lupins in the cultivation of poor, light land. Jour. 

 Ministry Agric. Great Britain 26: 982-991. Fig. 1-3. 1920.— The value of the cultivation of 

 lupins (Blue and yellow, Lwpinus luteus) as a means of improving and reclaiming poor light 

 land is not sufficiently appreciated. Lupins grow with surprising luxuriance upon poor, 

 blowing sand, which will grow practically nothing else but rye. The effect of a crop of lupins 

 upon the succeeding crop is really astonishing. Information is given on the sowing, harvest- 

 ing and utilization of lupins and on the removal of the possible poisonous properties from 

 lupins.— M. B. McKay. 



48. Parnell, F. R. Experimental error in variety tests with rice. Agric. Jour. India 

 14: 747-757. 1919. — Experimental errors in field work under Indian conditions are given and 

 data presented. The probable error of long, narrow field plots (20 X 250 Iks.) is much less than 

 square plots. — J. J. Skinner. 



49. Perez, P. F., Manuel A. Suarez, Manuel F. Grau, and Antonio GarcIa Villa. 

 Experiencias en el cultivo del tabaco. [Experiments in the cultivation of tobacco. 1 Revist. 

 Agric. Com. y Trab. 2: 484-488. 1919. — This is the report of a commission appointed by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture to report on the results of experiments with tobacco obtained by 

 Francisco B. Cruz. The experiments involve the comparison of tobacco grown without shade, 

 shaded by palm leaves and shaded with cheese cloth. Tobacco produced under shade was 

 declared most desirable for the American market. The yield produced under cheese cloth 

 was largest. — F. M. Blodgelt. 



50. Pescott, E. E. Excursion to Nobelius's nursery, Emerald. Victorian Nat. 36: 

 9, 124, 125. Jan. 8, 1920. — Paper read before the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, Australia. 

 The paper is a popular account of an excursion taken to the tree-nursery of Messrs. C. A. Nobel- 

 ius and Sons at Emerald. Uncultivated plants which attracted especial attention were noted 

 including Erica arborea; Ranunculus re-pens the English buttercup, which has become natural- 

 ized; and Chiloglottis the Green Bird Orchid, a clump of which was found in the top of a tree 

 fern. The feature of the nursery, however, was the establishment of the flax industry, many 

 acres of land being devoted to the culture of the New Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax. A 

 flax mill has been installed. The flax plants are ready to cut at three years old, and subse- 

 quently every three years for an indefinite period. The leaves are graded by throwing a 

 bundle of them upright in a sunken cask. The different lengths are withdrawn and assembled 

 in three grades. They are then scutched, the freed fiber washed, dried and bleached and the 

 fiber is ready for baling and despatch to the rope mills. A ton of fiber is obtained from seven 

 tons of leaves, whereas in New Zealand eight to ten tons of leaves are required to produce 

 one ton of fiber. In New Zealand the flax grows best in swamps, while all of Mr. Nobelius' 

 was hill grown. The local fiber is of superior quality — and graded "special" at the rope 

 mills. — F. Detmcrs. 



