268 



than the present record of the world's champion Ayrshire for 

 milk and is 37.96 Ihs. more fat. 



The record is valua])le as showing the constitution necessary to 

 give a remarkahle milk and hutter fat record, with a calf each 

 vear for five consecutive years. To give that amount of milk 

 annuallv and raise a calf each year, a cow must have constitution, 

 which is characteristic of the Ayrshire hreed. 



C. M. WiNSLOW. 



Sec. Ayrshire Breeders' Association. 

 Brandon, X'crmonl. 



COMPLJirn DIETARY OF PLANT DTSIRABLK. 



The ( iardeners' Chronicle, referring to this suliject, says that 

 though we know that plants require certain elements of mineral 

 plant food such as phosphorus, .suli)hur. potassium, lime, magne- 

 sium and iron, we have yet to discover what others are necessary 

 for their healthy development. Recent experiments conducted 

 hy M. Maze with all possihle precautions indicate that in the case 

 of maize in addition to the above, manganese, zinc, silicon and 

 cerium, as w'ell as boron, aluminum, fluorine and iodine, are also 

 found necessary. Traces of these latter occur in spring water, 

 and when water, purified by repeated distillation, was used, the 

 complete development of the plants failed. 



On general grounds, says the paper referred to, we may con- 

 clude that what holds good for maize may also be found appli- 

 cable to other plants as well. It is a matter not merely of .scien- 

 tific interest but (what is more important) of economic import- 

 ance that the complete dietary of the i^l.-.nt should be established. 



TRET CUTTING UP-TO-DATE. 



For some time it has been known thai a wire drawn tight and 

 heated by an electric current red hot would cut its way through 

 a thick tree. Mr. Hugo Gautke, a German inventor, has im- 

 proved this process by causing the wire to become incandescent 

 simply by friction in working its way through a tree. A steel 

 wire one-twenty-fifth of an inch in diameter is used, and it is 

 said that this can be made to traverse a tree twenty inches in 

 diameter in six minutes. The wire is worked to and fro rap- 

 idly by an electric motor and becomes .so hot by friction that if 

 burns its way quickly through the trunk. The wire will cut 

 through the tree without the use of wedges to keep the cut open, 

 and the cut may be made several feet U]) the tree, on the ground 

 level, or even below the ground. '\'hv elcctricilv may be brought 

 to the forest from a distance by a cable; a gasoline motor of 10- 

 horsepower and a dynamo arc all that is required to use this 

 process. It is contended that the great trees, ten feet thick in 

 the forc'st on the v.'cst coast, can thus Ije felled with case. 



