February 24, 19 16] 



NATURE 



7' 



This was made by a Scotch boat, aiici ripn'siMTtetl 

 some 280,000 herriiii^. The Scotch vcsstU. indeed, 

 varncd enormous sum-.. While nio-.t of iln ti--l\ takt-n 

 were consumed at liome, some wcie exported to 

 iM-anee, and some to ihe I iiit<d Slat.-. Ihe Norfolk 

 mussel iiulusir_\ h is proliti-d ii\ tlie >us|)ension of im- 

 jKirts from Holland. During the season 87,500 cwt.- 

 were taken from the beds of the Boston and Lynn 

 hsherics. The latter were raided by starfish of ]ari.,n- 

 size, and "small starfish . . . did much mixliief to 

 the brood muscles." This much may be j^athend 

 Irom the fact that as nian\- as two and a half tons 

 )f these pests have been taken in one day. 



The improvement of tobacco cultivation in Bihar is 

 one of the subjects which has engaged the attention 

 of Mr. and Mrs. Howard, at the Agricultural Research 

 Institute, Pusa, and their accxaunt of the industry 

 with their conclusions is published as Bulletin No. 50, 

 1915, from the Pusa Institute. Attention at Pusa 

 has been mainly concentrated on the improvement of 

 indigenous varieties of tobacco, and a type has been 

 discovered of light colour and good texture suitable 

 for cigarette tobacco. Green manuring with Sunn 

 hemp has also been found valuable on light, high- 

 lying, well-drained soils. The importance of growing 

 only one kind of tobacco and of growing even fields 

 of the crop is insisted uix)n, the value of a single 

 variety being evident since cross fertilisation is 

 common in tobacco. The bulletin contains full par- 

 ticulars as to seed sowing, transplanting, manuring, 

 and the principles of curing, for it is largely on the 

 curing that the value of the tobacco depends. 



Prof. Bayley Balfour describes fifty new species 

 of Primula from China, Tibet, and the Himalaya in 

 Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 

 vol. ix., No. xli. The Chinese and Tilxtan si)ecie^ are 

 from the collections recently made by Mr. G. Forrest 

 and Mr. F. Kingdon Ward in particular, and Prof. 

 Balfour deals critically with the micro-forms found in 

 several of the Chinese species. A few species de- 

 scribed have been collected by Mr. Reginald Farrer, 

 and some also by Mr. Purdoni. Amoni; thos(> of more 

 particular interest may be mentioned Vnmida also- 

 phila, Half. fil. and l-'arrer, found in the highest 

 woodland zone of the 1'ibeian forests, with long, 

 creeping stolons running in the moss in which it 

 grows. These stolons are traversed by a t'un-ous 

 mycehum, as is the case with the Pyrolas, anrong 

 which this species grows, and no doubt through its 

 guest fungus it is capable of absorbing the atmospheric 

 nitrogen. Another strikinj^ >peeies is /'. Viola-,Kr(uuUs. 

 Farrer and Purdom, from Kaii-u, helon-in.i; to^the 

 s(>ction Omphalogramnia, the section bearing nre- 

 -ular flowers. This plant has thick flanml-like h aves 

 and large pale-purple flowers, the three upper lobes 

 Iving back over the long tube and ih,' tliree lower 

 standing out stiffly, like those of a violet. Five other 

 species of this section are known, and Prof. Balfour 

 inclines to the view that this section should be placed 

 in the genus Bryorarpum rather than in Primula. 



To assist farmers to rear a larger number of calves 

 ::kI uUimatelv to increase our food supplies, the West 

 NO. 2417, VOL. 96] 



d Coll. 



of Seotlaml .\.t,nieulti 

 out a series of (■air-le<'ding experimrnts at th.- college 

 farm, Kilmarnock. The report on ilusr experiments 

 by Mr. William (i. R. Paterson and Mr. Lindsax 

 Robb is issued as Bulletin No. 68. Four dilTereni 

 rations were tested, viz.: — (i) Whole milk; (2) 

 sei)arated milk and crushed oats; (0 sejiarated milk 

 and mai/e meal; and (4) \vh<\ and a speeial call meal. 

 The vatu" of I lies,. diei>, as judj^cd i)y the avrage 

 weekl\ live u,i-ln increase of the calves in each 

 grou]), c.ame oliI in the order given, hut the cost i)ei- 

 Ib. increase witli whole nvi!-: was j-oJ., against j,-^<-l. 

 for separated milk antl either cruslud oats or mai/<- 

 meal, 'idle wlie\ ration was not a suei e--. The 

 ' c.ahcs did not like it, and it had a tenden. \ lo ^-our 

 them. The lot fed on whole milk were nalurallx the 

 best-looking all through the experiment, but th<; 

 crushed oats group were very little behind. The trials 

 showed that separated milk with either cruslud oats 

 or maize meal make suitable and economical rations 

 for calves. It is advisable to feed solely on whole 

 milk for the first four weeks, and to effect the chani;<- 

 of ration gradually. These Scotch experiments make 

 an interesting comparison with similar trials carried 

 out by Dr. Voelcker at W'oburn in 1912-14. Ih r« the 

 records were continued ri^ght up to the slau^hiej ol 

 the animals as two-year-old bullocks, and demon- 

 strated in a striking way the superiority of (rushe<l 

 oats over all the other rations tested. 



In a recent note we remarked on the energy shown 

 in America in the investigation of the problems of 

 protozoa in the soil. Vol. v., No. 11, of the Journal 

 of Agricultural Research contains a paper on the rela- 

 tive activity of protozoa in greenhouse and field soils. 

 Mr. G. P. Koch has examined a number of soils in the 

 endeavour to ascertain whether protozoa lead an active 

 life in soils of diflferent moisture content when tho 

 temperature is constant and when it is variable. The 

 soil is stirred with a few drops of sterile water and 

 examined under the microscope for two minutes onl) , 

 thus avoiding errors due to rapid development of 

 encysted forms, as pointed out by Martin and Lewin. 

 According to the author, active protozoa do exist in 

 greenhouse soils, but in very limited numbers, only six 

 out of twenty soils examined showing a few trophic 

 forms. Active protozoa are not found in field soils 

 under normal conditions, but cysts invariably occur 

 which become active in a favourable environment. 'Ihe 

 moisture content of the soil appears to be th<' chief 

 factor in determining the presence or absence of utive 

 protozoa, while temperature, organic matter, and 

 physical structure are of secondary important-. .\ft<r 

 lieavy rain, when the soil is waterlogged, jnMio/oa 

 excyst and can be found in the active state in standing 

 water. The time required for excystment was fomul 

 j to be longer than that given by previous workers. 

 j Small ciliates can excyst in one to two hours .it 23° C. ; 

 ; at this temperature flagellates require six to eight 

 i hours and large ciliates forty hours. Doth moisture 

 ' and temperature appear to influence the period of 

 excystment. Evidently the two-minute period of 

 examination of each sample is well on the safe side. 

 I The author concludes that protozoa are too rarely 



