95 
through which those interested in mycological work in regard to 
agriculture will be kept informed of progress elsewhere. There 
are at present over 50 officials engaged in this work in the 
Overseas parts of the Empire, while the number of agriculturists, 
planters, and the like practically interested is legion. 
The effect of fungus diseases in reducing crop production is 
great beyond calculation. A Canadian scientist has estimated 
the loss caused by rust in wheat in the prairie region of Canada 
in 1917 at 100,000,000 bushels, representing a value of between 
.25,000,0001. and 50,000,000]. For the same year the loss in the 
five chief cereals in the United States exceeded 400,000,000 bushels. 
The effect of this on the provisioning of the world may be easily 
imagined. : 
The Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and its Cultivation in the 
Punjab.—“‘ The extraordinarily high temperature, the extremely 
dry atmosphere and the plentiful supply of soil water required to 
grow dates successfully, is a combination extremely difficult to find, 
and limits date cultivation to a very few places on the face of the 
earth.” These are the concluding words of the author of the 
above-named work and the desired conditions he seems to have 
found in the Punjab. One feels that the opinion carries some 
weight, because it is supported by experience in the Egyptian 
Sudan, a land which from the beginning of time almost has been 
associated with the date-palm. His argument is intended to 
show, and rightly so, that over-production is practically impossible, 
notwithstanding the fact that it is also common in Southern 
Europe, North Africa, and the Orient; cultivated in other parts 
of India, Baluchistan, California, Arizona, Texas, Australia, 
Canary Islands and many hot, dry countries. Dried dates are 
imported into the United Kingdom from British India, Persia, 
Egypt, Gibraltar, &c., and particulars have been given in the 
Bulletin of the cultivation in South Australia (1895, pp. 161-162), 
Antigua (1896, pp.. 26-28), Bussorah (1898, pp. 46-50), and 
Mesopotamia (1908, pp. 283-286), together with one (1914, 
pp. 159-162) on the sex of the seedlings—always a cause for 
grave anxiety as to the right proportion of male and female 
trees when seeds are relied on as a means of increase. Amongst 
authors of the comparatively few publications of recent years on 
the subject may be mentioned Watt (India, 1892), Fairchild 
(U.S. Dept. of Agric., 1903), Swingle (U.S. Dept. of Agric., 1904), 
Fletcher (India and countries other than India, 1906), Blatter 
(India and Ceylon, 1911), Popenoe (California, 1913), Brown 
(Egypt, 1916), and Annett (Bengal, 1913 and 1918). 
The present additional work, however, is none the less timely 
and valuable. In desert regions, like that of the Sahara, for 
instance, the fruit is of first importance to the inhabitants, and 
* The Date Palm and its cultivation in the Punjab by D. Milne, 
Economic Botanist, Lyallpur (published for the Punjab Govt., 1918), 
pp. 1-153 and 50 illustrations. 
