628 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Oct., 1916. 



Canes. — Medium, semi-erect, pale glossy green and glabrous whilst still her- 

 baceous, Iight-brown when the wood is ripe, moderately striated; internodes 

 medium, from 8 to 10 Cm. (3 to 4 inches) long; buds slightly prominent, not 

 brittle; tendrils numerous, large, bifurcated. 



Leaves. — Five lobed, of medium size, as long as broad; limb not bulgy, dark- 

 green, slight cobweb like tomentum above; under surface very cottony, whitish; 

 substance of leaf pliable, velvety to the touch, reminding of chamois leather ; 

 first and second sinus deep, almost U-shape; petiolar sinus open, sometimes 

 narrow, almost closed, so that the edges of the lol)es touch; veins not 

 prominent; teeth shortly mucronate, tinted with pale-yellow. Leaf-stalk long, 

 glabrous, reddish. In autumn, after vintage, the leaves become yellowish-green, 

 with bands of bright-carmine. 



Fruit. — Bunches of medium length, cylindro-eonical, fairly loose, short ; stalk 

 branched, bearing frequently another bunch almost as large as the principal 

 one, but not shouldered; pedicels lon^, thin: core short, reddish-yellow at the 

 centre ; stalk very long, fairly strong, and generally flattened. 



Berries. — Almost spherical, of irregular size, small rather than large, bluish- 

 black; pulp soft, juicy and perfumed; skin hard, rich red colour; pips per 100 

 berries — 44 with one each, 48 with two, and 8 with three. 



{To he continued.') 



THE USE OF LITTERS IN SAVING NATURAL MANURES. 



Various litters are in use, mainly for bedding, but in some cases 

 for absorbing liquid excreta and in the subsequent disposal of tbe 

 manure a large amount of tbis litter is sold. 



Litters in common use are cereal straw, shavings, sawdust, and 

 bracken fern. 



In an article under the heading of " Some Effects of Litter on 

 the Fermentation of manure,'' by "W. E. Tottingham, appearing in the 

 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, June, 1916, the 

 results of some very interesting experiments are given. 



The author used oat straw, oak shavings, and pine shavings as litter, 

 and one part of fresh horse excreta with two parts of fresh cow excreta 

 as a manure. 



The results, after twelve weeks' fermentation, proved the manure 

 with oat straw as litter to contain 17.94 per cent, humus, with 9.5 

 per cent, soluble nitrogen, whereas the manure containing oak shavings 

 litter contained 12.07 per cent, humus and 5.91 per cent, soluble nitrogen, 

 whilst the manure with pine shavings litter contained 11.81 per cent, 

 humus and 5.67 per cent, soluble nitrogen. 



In addition, the bacteria in 1 gram of the oat straw manure was 

 12.7, against 3.7 and 4.7 in the cases of the oak shavings and pine 

 shavings respectively. The results of field experiments conducted by 

 Professor E. B. Hart coincide with the above laboratory experiments — 

 the increased yield from the oat straAv litter manure being approxi- 

 mately 10 per cent, higher than that where oak and pine shavings were 

 used as litter. 



The results presented seem to furnish argument regarding the value 

 of some litters at present in use, and certainly interesting particulars 

 Avould be supplied by an investigation on the subject of the use of other 

 litters. 



