May 27, 1922] 



NA TURE 



689 



The revised scheme for poultry research of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture, which was foreshadowed by 

 Sir Arthur Griffith Boscawen at the Poultry Club 

 dinner last October, has been approved by the 

 Development Commissioners. Of the grant of 

 50,000/., 19,500/. will be devoted to capital exp>endi- 

 ture and the balance to maintenance during five 

 years. The grant is conditional on the sum of 6500/. 

 being provided by the industry, and apparently any 

 further grant will depend on results. So that the 

 seedling will have to be planted, pruned to shape, and 

 brought into profit in five years. The provisional 

 scheme includes : (a) An experimental section at 

 the Harper Adams College, capital 15,000/., mainten- 

 ance grant 2000/. a year ; (fe) experiments in egg 

 production, 2500/. and 725/. ; (c) experiments in the 

 production of table poultry, 1500/. and 725/. ; [d) 

 research at the Cambridge School of Agriculture, 

 5000/. and 300/. ; {e) experiments in nutrition at the 

 same school, 500/. and 1000/. ; (/) diseases research 

 at the Ministry's Addlestone Laboratory, 1500/. and 

 1250/. Much will depend on the personnel of the 

 " advisory committee." Sections (6) and (c) will be 

 supervised by representatives of the local poultry 

 • societies. It is hoped that the scheme may lead to 

 an improvement in British methods of poultry 

 production ; hitherto deplorably unscientific 



The Forestry Commissioners announce that a 

 prize of five thousand dollars is offered by Mr. Frank 

 J. D. Barnjum of Montreal for a practical method of 

 combating and suppressing the spruce bud worm, 

 bark beetle, and borer, which have caused such 

 tremendous damage in the forests of Eastern Canada 

 and the United States. The Province of Quebec 

 alone has suffered a loss during the past ten years of 

 150,000,000 cords of standing pulpwood by these 

 pests, which represents a market value in pulpwood 

 of three billion dollars, or if manufactured into paper, 

 of seven billion dollars. This represents a loss of 

 wood sufficient for forty-five years' requirements for 

 newsprint for the North American continent. The 

 competition will close on August i, and the 5000 

 dollars will be given for the successful suggestion that 

 I .is accepted by the judges, who will be Sir William 

 Price of Messrs. Price Bros., Quebec ; Dr. C. D. 

 Howe, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, Toronto 

 University; Mr. Fred A. Gilbert, Great Northern 

 Paper Company, Bangor, Maine ; Mr. G. C. Piche, 

 Chief of Forest Service, Quebec, and Mr. Ellwood 

 Wilson, Laurentide Company, Grand Mere, Quebec. 

 Competitive suggestions should reach Mr. Frank 

 J. D. Barnjum, New Birks Building, :\Iontreal, 

 Canada, before August i. 



One encouraging sign after the war is the increased 

 interest being shown in the Yorkshire Philosophical 

 -^•jcieties, most of which were founded about a century 

 :ro. The Whitby Society has just had its most 

 .successful year ; the Scarborough Philosophical 

 Society is also picking up ; the Hull Society is 

 celebrating its centenary this year, and the York 

 Philosophical Society next year. This last has issued 

 a pamphlet and an appeal for 75,000/. in order to 



NO. 2743, VOL. 109] 



extend its museum and properly to preserve the 

 wealth of archaeological material within its grounds. 

 Fortunately, through the generosity of the late Dr. 

 Tempest Anderson, the society was recently very 

 much relieved of its financial anxiety, and under the 

 regime of the new Keeper, Dr. Collinge, efforts are 

 being made to enlarge the museum and to take the 

 necessary steps towards preserving St. Mary's Abbey 

 and the Hospitium. The pamphlet accompanying 

 the appeal contains illustrations from photographs of 

 St. Mary's Abbey, the galleries devoted to mammalia 

 and birds, and the unique bronze mortar belonging to 

 St. Mary's Abbey which is dated 1308 — probably one 

 of the earliest dated pieces of this kind in the country. 

 We notice one of the objects qf the appeal is to provide 

 " a Yorkshire museum up to the standard of modern 

 requirements." Seeing that most of the important 

 towns and cities in the county now have their 

 museums, the museum at York will probably have 

 more than sufficient for its requirements if attention 

 is confined to the antiquities of the city and its 

 immediate area. 



The thirty-third annual conference of the Museums 

 Association will be held at Leicester on July 10- July 

 14 next, under the presidency of Mr. E. E. Lowe, 

 Director of the Museum, Art Gallery, and Libraries, 

 Leicester. The subjects for discussion at the con- 

 ference are to deal more particularly (though not 

 entirely) with the practical and technical side of 

 museum work, and the secretary (Dr. W' . M. Tatter- 

 sall. The Museum, The University, Manchester) 

 will be glad to receive offers of papers of this nature 

 as early as possible. An exhibition of appliances, 

 fittings, apparatus, and cases appertaining to museum 

 work, by commercial firms who supply these things is 

 being arranged with a view of the mutual inter- 

 change of ideas between Curators and business men. 

 Visits will be made to the Museum, the Art Gallery, 

 the Library, and the newly founded University 

 College, and it is hoped that arrangements will be 

 possible whereby the members attending the con- 

 ference will be able to inspect one of the staple 

 manufactories of the town. Excursions to the pre- 

 Cambrian area of Charnwood Forest and to the 

 granite area of Mount Sorrel are contemplated. The 

 duties of hon. local secretary have been undertaken 

 by Mr. W. Keay, 6 Millstone Lane, Leicester. 



The annual report of the Zoological Society of 

 London for 1921, presented at the annual general 

 meeting on April 28, records a net increase of 129 in 

 the number of fellows of the Society, while the number 

 of visitors to the gardens, though nearly 200,000 

 less than the million and a half of 1921, is still the 

 third largest in the history of the Society. The 

 scheme of lectures to school teachers, arranged in 1910 

 in co-operation with the London County Council, 

 was continued, and Mr. F. Balfour-Browne conducted 

 two courses of four lectures with lantern demonstra- 

 tions and three tours of the gardens, each course 

 arranged for 150 teachers. The future of the " Zoo- 

 logical Record " has received the serious considera- 

 tion of the Council, and the volume for 192 1 has been 



