THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



and then proceeds to envelop part or the 

 whole of the worm within its pharynx, which 

 is stretched as a thin skin over the body of 

 its struggling prey. The tissues of the lat- 

 ter pass into the intestine of the Planarian 

 and distend it greatly. After such a meal, 

 which lasts from one to five hours, a Bi- 

 palhim may remain for three months with- 

 out seeking food." 



The specimens of Bipalium Kewense ob- 

 tained in European greenhouses never attain 

 sexual maturity, but reproduce by division 

 into fragments, each of which can reproduce 

 all the organs of the parent. 



My principal reason for describing this 

 worm is to draw the attention of all florists 

 to it so that we may learn more about its 

 introduction into America. The florist at 



the College here^ tells me that he first saw 

 this worm three years ago. It has been 

 known in England for over eight years. It 

 is not a worm to be feared, and hence there 

 need not be any alarm in the matter. I 

 wish, however, to hear from any person who 

 has seen this worm in his greenhouse. 



Wm. Lochhead. 



Ontario Agricultural College. 



Guelph, May 3, 1900. 



Note. — Since making this study, Miss Ormerod's 

 reference to the same worm in her Report of 

 Injurious Insects for 1899 has come to hand. 

 The worm was evidently new to her, for she 

 asked her correspondents to send it to the British 

 Museum authorities for identification. In a foot- 

 note Miss Ormerod gives a valuable reference to 

 the literature of Land Planarious : " Note of 

 Bipaliutn Kewense^ and the generic characters 

 of Land Planarions " by Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, 

 M. A., in proceedings of the Zoological Society 

 of London, 1886, part II., pp. 166-168. W. L. 



HOME-GROWN FERTILIZERS. 



>HE fertilizer season has arrived, and 

 the farmer is wondering what he 

 shall feed his crops this year. 



Commercial fertilizers have to be bought 

 in some cases, but they should be looked on 

 as a last resort. The recent sharp advances 

 in the price of crude stock used in the manu- 

 facture of fertilizers, notably those furnish- 

 ing nitrogen, make it more important than 

 ever that the farmer look after the manurial 

 resources of his farm. He must take more 

 care to avoid unnecessary losses of plant 

 food through careless methods of handling 

 manure. 



Nitrogen is probably the easiest of the 

 fertilizing elements to secure on the farm. 

 It grows in clover, beans and similar crops ; 



it is prominent in all good barnyard manure 

 and it is present in considerable quantities 

 in some of the muck beds which are to be 

 found in many parts of the country. 



The liquid manure from cattle is richer 

 in the amount as well as the quality of the 

 nitrogen than is the solid. It follows that 

 measures should be adopted whereby this 

 portion can be saved and added to the solid 

 manure, so that both may play their due 

 part in keeping up the fertility of the farm. 



Where the manure is not immediately ap- 

 plied to the land it should be so kept that it 

 will not be exposed to the leaching or dis- 

 solving action of rain, as this necessarily 

 causes a deterioration in value. 



Vermont Experiment Station. 



