AGRICULTUEAL BOTANY. 727 



number of plants reporting operations in 1913 was 1,023 as compared witli 1,017 

 in 1912 and with 1,139 in 1911." 



The influence of sulphur on soil acidity, H. C. Lint {Jour. Indus, and Engin. 

 Chem., 6 ilOl-ff), No. 9, pp. 747, 748). — Laboratory experiments on the rate of 

 oxidation of sulphur in soil to which it had been added to the amount of 1,000 

 lbs. per acre-foot showed that the sulphur had practically all been oxidized 

 within the first eight or nine weeks, there being little change in the acidity after 

 the seventh week. The oxidation of sulphur was much more rapid with a 

 heavy clay loam soil than with a sandy loam soil. Soils made up to 20 per 

 cent water content once each week and allowed to dry did not give as rapid 

 oxidation as those in which an optimum moisture content of 20 per cent was 

 constantly maintained by keeping the soils covered to prevent drying out. 



That the sulphur causes an increase in acidity under field conditions is veri- 

 fied by analyses of field soils to which sulphur had been applied the previous 

 year. These showed the lime requirement to correspond to the rate of sulphur 

 application. 



Fertilizer and oils, B. W. Evermann (U. S. Dept. Com., Bur. Fisheries Doc. 

 797, pp. 134, 135; abs. in Amer. Fcrt., 41 {1914), No. 6, p. 28).— This is a short 

 section in a larger report on the Alaska fisheries and fur industries in 1913. 

 It deals brieflj' with the status of fish fertilizer and oil production in Alaska, 

 which is stated to have been less extensive than during the previous year, 

 emphasizes the great waste of valuable fertilizing material at the canning fac- 

 tories, and describes particularly a new plant for the manufacture of fertilizer 

 and oil established at Klawak during the year. 



Commercial fertilizers, J. S. Burd (California Sta. Bui. 245 (1914), pp. 53). — 

 Guarantiis, analyses, and valuations of 498 samples of fertilizers inspected by 

 the Califorina Fertilizer Control during the year ended June 30, 1914, are re- 

 ported. Ninety-one of these fertilizers were deficient in one or more fertilizing 

 constituents under the terms of the state fertilizer law which allows a deficiency 

 of 0.25 per cent in nitrogen, 0.5 in potash, and 1 in available phosphoric acid. 

 The sales of fertilizers in the State during the year are estimated at from 35,000 

 to 40,000 tons. 



Fertilizer analyses, H. B. McDonnell et al. {Md. Agr. Col. Quart., No, 65 

 (1914), pp. 39). — Analyses and valuations of fertilizers sold in Maryland exam- 

 ined from February to July, 1914, are reported. 



AGRICTJLTTJRAL BOTANY. 



[The evolutionary aspects of genetic research], "W. Bateson (Nature [Lon- 

 don], 93 (1914), ^'os. 2338, pp. 635-642; 2339, pp. 674-681; Science, n. ser., 

 40 (1914), ^^os. 1026, pp. 287-302; 1027, pp. 319-333) .—This, is the presidential 

 address delivered before the British Association for the Advancement of Sci- 

 ence at its Australian meeting in August, 1914, in which the author outlined 

 his ideas regarding evolution in the light of recent research in genetics. 



It is claimed that variation in a series must occur either by the addition or 

 loss of a factor. Of the origin of new forms by the loss of a factor there is 

 said to be abundant evidence, but there does not appear to be any clear evi- 

 dence of the contemporary acquisition of new factors. The author summarizes 

 his views as follows : "As the evidence stands at present all that can be safely 

 added in amplification of the evolutionary creed may be summed up in the state- 

 ment that variation occurs as a definite event often producing a sensibly dis- 

 continuous result; that the succession of varieties comes to pass by the eleva- 

 tion and establishment of sporadic groups of individuals owing their origin to 



