728 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Inspection and analyses of cotton-seed meal on sale in Mississippi, W. F. 

 Hand kt al. (Mississippi Sta. Buls. L',8, pp. 35; lot, pp. 29). — These bulletins 

 give the results of analyses and valuations of samples of cotton-seed meal 

 iusi)eoted during the season of 1910-11. 



Fertilizer trade in Spain, li. Fkazer, Jr.. and E. J. Norton {Daily Cons. and. 

 Trade Rpts. [U. 8.}, 15 (1912), No. J,8, pp. 8^0, 8-',l).— It is stated that the use 

 of fertilizers, especially pf)tash fertilizers, is rapidly iucreashig in Spain, the 

 imports of fertilizing materials through the port of Valencia having a value of 

 .^r>,000,000 in 1909 to $0,000,000 in 1910. No fertilizing materials are imported 

 directly from the United States. 



Eeferring to the efforts to exploit calafatite (alunite) deposits near Almeria, 

 it is reported that the ore was found to be of low grade (2 per cent) and the 

 deposits of little or no commercial importance. 



AGRICULTTJEAL BOTANY. 



An elementary inquiry as to the origin of species, R. H. Firth (Jour. 

 Roy. Army Med. Corps, 16 (1911), No. 5, pp. J/Dl-SOJi). — The author places on 

 record the results of several years' observations on a number of strains of 

 Epilobium. Some of them vary quite "decidedly from the parent species, 

 E. hirsutum, and reproduce by seeds true to the strain. 



The author also records observations on a number of pedigreed strains of 

 CEnothera and Epilobium to test the effect of environment, nutrition, and 

 external disturbing agencies on their development. The plants were watered 

 with solutions containing various mineral constituents. In one instance aber- 

 rant forms were observed. This was in the case of E. parviflorum watered with 

 potassium nitrate. The plant produced in this aberrant form did not conform 

 to any variety of the type, and it had been perpetuated through the second 

 generation. 



Other experiments were conducted in which injections of various solutions 

 were made into the ovaries containing unfertilized ovules, but in most cases the 

 ovules were killed. In plants of E. roseum injected with a solution of common 

 salt and ammonium carbonate a number of aberrant forms quite unlike the 

 common type were obtained. 



The author draws the conclusion from his observations that new species may 

 result not only by hybridization but by mutations, the majority of cases being 

 probably through hybridization. 



The root habits of desert plants, W. A. Cannon (Carnegie Inst. Washington 

 Pub. 131, 1911, pp. 96, pis. 23, figs. 17). — A study has been made on the influence 

 of environment, including moisture in the soil and temperature of the soil, on 

 root development, the observations being made on Tumamoc Hill, the flood plain 

 of the Santa Cruz River, and on the sloping mesa or bajada near Tucson, Ariz. 



It was found that the roots of most annuals do not penetrate the soil deeper 

 than 20 cm. The largest development of lateral roots from annuals takes place 

 fi'om 4 to 5 cm. from the surface of the ground. The root systems of summer 

 annuals, which are distinct from winter annuals, are especially well developed, 

 and this characteristic is due to the great luxuriance of roots of the summer 

 forms, owing to the favorable vegetative conditions of the season. 



Perennial plants were found to have 3 types of roots, the generalized type, 

 with the tap root and laterals well developed, and 2 sijecialized forms, one of 

 which has a prominent tap root, and the other prominent laterals. The most 

 shallow rooted perennials observed were Opuntia arhasciila and Echinocactus 

 icislizeni, the roots of which are frequently not more than 2 cm. below the 

 surface. 



