8 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



be brought here, but are not available in the present 

 emergency. Much grass land coulcl be ploughed up for 

 wheat growing and motors could be used to save labour. 

 Germany has, I regret to say, outstripped us in agriculture 

 as in many other things, which will, let us hope, be set right 

 after the war, and is said to be able to feed 70 people from 

 each 100 acres of cultivated land, whereas we can only feed 

 45. This is to a great extent due to her more extensive and 

 discreet use of artificial manures. Another great loss is 

 through various plant diseases, which require much scientific 

 experiment to combat them successfully. It had been 

 thought that radium had a beneficial effect on the growth of 

 plants, but recent experiments have shown this belief to 

 have no foundation. We have Agricultural Colleges where 

 scientific research is carried on, and recently a Market 

 Garden Research station has been founded in the Lea Valley 

 which makes experiments with the produce grown by market 

 gardeners, in which last year tomato and cucumber growing 

 were prominent. A better yield of cucumbers was obtained 

 in the cooler than the warmer portion of a greenhouse in all 

 the 4 houses which were used for these trials. Finally I 

 would call attention to the value of nettles as vegetables. 

 From personal experience I can state that the younger 

 portions, treated like spinach, look and taste very like it 

 when served up, and they are, I believe, quite as wholesome, 

 and are easily picked with gloves, or cut down when about 

 a foot high. They are said also to make good fodder when 

 dried, and are being used for fibre in the scarcity of cotton 

 in Switzerland, the 2nd growth being the best for this purpose. 



GEOLOGY. 



An eruption of Mauna Loa began on May 19, 1916, the 

 smoke column being first seen at 7 a.m. and continuing until 

 noon, reaching a height of 20,000 feet. It was accompanied 

 by a flow of lava, which was repeated on May 21. The 



