Iviii. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



be studied with advantage by those who are interested in 

 those subjects. 



BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE. 



Experiments on the partial sterilizing of soils continue, 

 and shew the probability that the destruction of protozoa 

 present in the soil which feed on the useful bacteria permits 

 the growth of the latter, with good effects to the crop. In 

 any case the partial sterilization produces excellent results, 

 whether the means employed is heat, steam, or some 

 antiseptic. It is found that paraffin is attacked by Bacterium 

 prodigiosus and soil organisms to a serious extent if exposed 

 to them. In regard to the fertility of the soil, it would 

 seem that in Canada, and probably in many countries where 

 new and fertile tracts are brought under cultivation, the 

 same crop is often grown every year, and little care is exercised 

 to prevent the first fertility from becoming greatly 

 diminished. In Canada also the wood supply is in danger, 

 and in our own country the scarcity and cost of wood has 

 increased in the last 10 years, though immense quantities 

 are imported to the value of more than 28,000,000 for 

 unworked timber only. Much might doubtless be done 

 in regard to some sorts of timber by extensive planting, as 

 has been practically shewn on the Clyde, where 2,000 acres 

 planted 34 years ago on steep and rocky hillsides, on poor 

 soil covered with heather, have produced a net profit of 

 69 per acre after allowing for loss of grazing and all other 

 expenses during that period. In the U.S.A. Forestry is 

 well looked after by the Government. In planting a tree 

 it is said that great advantages accrue from the use of an 

 explosive instead of a spade in making the hole, as the ground 

 is fractured and broken up for some distance round and 

 beneath, which allows the roots to penetrate more easily 

 \\hon they begin to grow. It is stated that trees planted 

 by this method begin to bear much sooner. The President 

 of the Agricultural Section of the British Association in his 



