78 



EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



The application of nitrate of soda was found in nearly all cases to increase 

 tlie amount of hydrocyanic acid present. In drying the plants a part of it 

 disappeared so that the straw contained less than the green plants. 



Amount of hydrocyanic acid in sorghum at different periods of groicth. 



The toxic effects of three varieties of Andropogon, J. Schrodek and H. 

 Dammann (Ayro.s. 2 {1911), A'o. 10. pp. 283-290).— Thin paper relates to the 

 studies of Andropogon .sorghum- saccharatuni, A. sorghum vulgaris, and A. 

 sorghum halepensis, as noted above. 



Some studies on cotton-seed meal poisoning, C. W. Edgebton and H. Mor- 

 ris {Louisiana Stas. Bui. IS), pp. 3-35). — This is a report of investigations, 

 which have extended over a period of more than 2 years, from which the fol- 

 lowing conclusions are drawn : 



" Cotton seed and cotton-seed meal does contain a toxic principle which is 

 poisonous to certain animals. Cotton seed, itself, seems to be more toxic than 

 the ordinary commercial cotton-seed meal. Different lots of cotton seed and 

 cotton-seed meal show a considerable variation in toxicity. 



" The toxicity of the cotton-seed meal does not seem to be affected by the 

 fungi which rot the cotton bolls and enter the cotton seed. Cotton seed from 

 plants affected with the cotton wilt, or black root disease, are less toxic than 

 cotton seed from healthy plants. This decrease in toxicity in this seed is not 

 due to the premature ripening of the seed, because seed ripened on plants that 

 had been cut down showed as much toxicity as seed from healthy, uninjured 

 plants. 



" Heating cotton-seed meal or cotton-seed kernels for a long period at ;i 

 high temperature decreases the toxicity to a considerable extent. A very short 

 heating of the cotton-seed kernels, followed by an extraction of the oil, 

 apparently does not decrease the toxicity. Another factor enters here, however, 



