534 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.41 



Neither potassium nor phospliorus effected any material increase in tlie 

 yield of either cane or sugar, while phosphorus delayed the maturity of the 

 cane on unlimed land. Ammonium sulphate resulted in an increase in all 

 cases, but usually without pi'oflt. 



Experiments on stripping [sugar] cane, W. E. Cross {Rev. Indus, y Agr. 

 Tucuman, 9 (1919), No. 7-8, pp. 110-llJf. fig. 1; trans, in La. Planter, 62 (1919), 

 No. 19, pp. 301, 302, fig. 1). — ^'Observations made at Tucuman during 1917 and 

 1918 on the effect upon the composition of the juice of stripping the dried 

 and dead leaves from the lower part of the stalks of sugar cane are held to 

 indicate that the practice did not hasten the maturity of the cane. 



Costs of production in the sugar industiy ( U. S. Tariff Com., Tariff Inform. 

 Ser. No. 9 (1919), pp. 55, pis. 3, fig. 1). — "Comprehensive tables were pre- 

 pared ... in which the total costs and the segregated items of cost for every 

 factory from which returns were obtained are displayed in detail. They cover 

 the cane-sugar industry in Cuba, in Hawaii, in Louisiana, and in Porto Rico, 

 and the beet-sugar industry in the continental United States. For each of 

 these regions there are three tables, the first showing costs in the prewar 

 period, the second for the crop of 1916-17, and the third for the crop of 

 1917-18." For the second period 178 factories are reported and in the third 

 152. These basic tables show the output in tons, total cost, seggregated items 

 of total and factory cost, and averages by factories and by tonnage. 



From the fact that the cost of the raw material is the most important item, 

 it is shown that sugar is essentially an agricultural product. The suggestions 

 from the available data are in favor of large-scale production of cane or beets. 



In the appendixes there are copies of the schedules used in collecting data, 

 and illustrative charts. 



Notes on the germination of tobacco seed. — III, Notes on the relation of 

 light and darkness to germination, T. H. Goodspeed (Univ. Cal. Pubs. Bot., 

 5 (1919), No. 16, pp. Ji51-455). — As a further contribution to work previously 

 noted (E. S. R., 33, p. 636), the author describes observations on the effect 

 of light and darkness upon the germination of five varieties each of Nicotiana 

 tabactwi and N. rustica, preliminary to a more thorough and better controlled 

 series of investigations. 



Part of the seed was placed in a glass-sided germinating case maintained at 

 a constant temperature of about 80° G (86° F.) and in which a 40-watt 

 tungsten electric-light bulb was hung so that the seed was exposed to the light 

 continuously. Duplicate samples of seed were also subjected to continuous 

 darkness in the germinator by placing them in covered paper boxes. In 

 another series of tests the seeds were kept in darkness in closed boxes and 

 were also left undarkened near a window, but not in direct sunlight and 

 without any attempt to regulate the temperature. Only two-year-old seed of 

 the N. rustica, varieties was employed, while that of the N. tabacum varieties 

 ranged from 2 to 12 years in age. The germinated seeds were counted at 

 frequent intervals over a period of more than 20 days and the data recorded 

 in tabular form. 



Contrary to the results secured by Honing (E. S. R., 38, p. 127), working 

 with commercial strains of N. tabacum derived largely from the basic types 

 employed in these observations, the seeds of all varieties of both N. tabacum 

 and N. rustica. were found to germinate x-eadily in darkness. It was also 

 noted that old and new seed germinated equally well in darkness. 



Nomenclature of wheats grown in South Africa (Union .%. Africa, Dept. 

 Agr. Bui. 1 (1919), pp. i5).— The correct name and the names commonly applied 

 to the different l:inds of wheat grown in South Africa are presented in tabular 

 form, together with notes on the more prominent agricultural and botanical 



