Annual Report for 1914 oj the Botanist. 283 



In view of the comparative frequencj' with which such 

 cases have been met with lately it is becoming questionable 

 whether the seeds of these plants, which are of doubtful 

 agricultural value, should be included in grass mixtures. 



Twenty-three plants were identified in the course of the 

 year, fifteen of them weeds of no general interest and the 

 remaining eight cereals. The determination of varieties in 

 this latter group, in spite of being able to compare the 

 specimens sent with a good collection, is becoming difficult 

 owing to the renaming of older varieties. 



Comparatively few of the fungi causing disease in plants 

 were sent for examination before harvest, the total number 

 till the end of October being only twenty-eight. Since then 

 specimens of the various diseases of potato tubers have come 

 in frequently. Twelve samples have been examined for corky 

 scab (see Annual Report, 1913). These inquiries are probably 

 the result of this disease being scheduled by the Board of 

 Agriculture under the Destructive Insects and Pests Act. The 

 symptoms, though strongly suggestive of corky scab, were, in 

 all cases, due to other causes. 



The chief diseases reported on were bean rust, larch canker 

 silver leaf, strawberry spot, peach mildew, dry-rot in timber, 

 and apple scab. 



The number of general inquiries amounted to 136. This 

 shows a considerable increase on former years. It was partly 

 accounted for by the agitation in the Press to increase the 

 quantity of food stuff available in the immediate future by 

 planting up vacant land with vegetables and the recommenda- 

 tions to sow an increased area of wheat where such a course 

 was possible. Apart from this there were over twenty inquiries 

 concerning new varieties of wheat and barley. More information 

 on this subject is necessary. Although all available records have 

 been collected from the various agricultural stations, where 

 trials have been made systematically, the figures for yielding 

 capacity are not sufficiently numerous to be entirelj' trustworthy. 

 If Members growing any of these newer sorts under ordinary 

 farming conditions will report the yields per acre and also the 

 corresponding figures for some well-known variety, I shall be 

 glad to collate the results and publish them in the annual reports. 



It is impracticable to give any brief description of the 

 remaining general inquiries. The most important of them 

 dealt with the feeding value of horse-chestnuts, acorns and 

 beech mast, the possibilities of growing maize in this country, 

 the varieties of apples resistant to canker, the cultivation of 

 willows for cricket bat timber, clover sickness, and sugar beets. 



R. H. BiFPBN. 

 School of Agriculture, 

 Cambridge. 



