128 EXPEEIMENT STATION RECORD. 



A. niger to dctoruiine tbe effect of increased qiiantilies of manganese on its 

 development. 



In the experiments different quantities of manganese snlpliate Avere added to 

 the medium in which the fungns was grown, and the dry weight of the fungus 

 as well as its ash content increased with the increased concentration of man- 

 ganese up to the pots receiving 1,000 mg. per liter. When the amount exceeded 

 this proportion there was a rai)id falling off in the growth of the plant. The 

 amount of manganese fixc^, unlike that of some other substances, was not in 

 direct proportion to the quantity contained in the nutrient solution. 



The effect on plants of certain substances extracted from coal tar, M. 

 M. MiRANDE (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], 152 (1911), No. 4, pp. 204-206).— 

 In a previous note (E. S. R., 24, p. 631) the author called attention to the 

 physiological action of vapors arising from tar used on roads as affecting 

 plants. 



In the present paper he gives the results of an investigation of the effect on 

 plants of a number of commercial products, such as carbonyle, carbolineum, 

 carboneine, etc., which are derived by distillation from coal tar. All of these 

 contain creosote in some foi'm, and a number are used as insecticides and for 

 other purposes. The author finds that they are more or less injurious, causing 

 the destruction of the green cells with which they come in contact. On account 

 of their injurious properties he urges great care in their use when applied to 

 living plants. 



Intumescences on foliage leaves produced by poisons, Lilly M. ^Iabx iOsterr. 

 Bot. ZfscJir., 61 {I'Jll), Xo. 2-3, pp. J,!)-5!), pi. 1, fig. 1). — The author claims as 

 a result of her investigations that the leaves of (JoUJfussia anisophyUa, which 

 had Ijeen sprayed with ammonium copper carbonate or a 0.1 per cent alcoholic 

 solution of corrosive sublimate, developed under sufficient warmth and moisture 

 conditions leaf intumescences. If any of these factors (poison, warmth, and 

 moisture) were wanting, no intumescences resulted. The formation of these 

 outgrowths is entirely independent of light or darkness, but the age of the leaf 

 plays a very important rule, as very young leaves and leaves fully matvu-ed did 

 not react to the poisons. Similar results were also obtained with cauliflower 

 and Conocephulus mveus. 



Some effects of severe freezing upon vegetation in a condition of active 

 growth, F. K. BuTTEES and C. O. Roskndahl (Science, n. scr., 33 (1911). No. 

 842, p. 261).— The authors state that on the night of April 15, 1910, the tem- 

 perature at Minneapolis fell to 27° F. and a week later to 19° with a high wind. 

 At the time of these frosts vegetation was in an advanced state, and many 

 trees were in full leaf while nearly all others were in active growth. 



Observations were made upon about 70 species of woody and herbaceous 

 plants, and it was found that besides the injury due to cold, much mechanical 

 injury resulted from loss of turgidity in succulent young shoots during the 

 early stages of freezing, and from the extreme brittleness of hard frozen leaves 

 and twigs which the wind snapped off in great numbers. The second freeze 

 injured many plants which were not hurt by the first one. About 42 per cent 

 of the woody species lost practically all their foliage, only about 10 per cent 

 being relatively uninjured. Mature leaves and those just unfolding from the 

 bud were less injured than half-grown leaves of the same plant. In about 60 

 per cent of the species examined the twigs of the new growth were killed or 

 severely injured, and in about 15 i)er cent the twigs of the previovis season's 

 growth, and in- a few instances older twigs, were destroyed. Flower buds were 

 somewhat more tender, and open flowers and fruits much more tender, than 

 vegetative parts. The damage to native herbaceous plants was mainly me- 

 chanical and relatively slight except in the case of open flowers and developing 



