8 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



of the President of the Agricultural Section of the British 

 Association deals with " Farming and food supplies in time 

 of war," giving many particulars of our food production at 

 different times, and especially during the periods in the last 

 120 years in which we were at war. Though something has 

 been done to increase our home-grown supplies, it will always 

 be necessary, with such a dense population, to import a great 

 part of our food, and without our Navy we should soon las 

 starved into submission. There were papers on various 

 branches of the same subject giving many useful hints for 

 increasing the food supply. Some experiments on feeding 

 calves, carried out at the W. of Scotland Agricultural College, 

 show that separated milk and crushed oats form an economical 

 food, very little behind whole milk in its results, and at 

 about half the cost. Through testing of the roots and careful 

 selection the sugar yield of beet has been increased from 10 '1 

 p. cent, in 1870 to 18-5 p. cent, in 1912, with occasional 

 individual roots yielding as much as 27 p. cent. The wheat 

 crop of the United States has been much damaged by the 

 attacks of the Hessian fly, which it is stated can be avoided by 

 delaying the autumn sowing until a short time after the flies 

 have emerged, as they would then find nothing on which to 

 lay their eggs. It has been believed that radium exercised 

 some effect on the growth of seedlings, but the most recent 

 experiments have shewn practically no result. Some races 

 of Bacterium subtilis have shewn a remarkable vitality when 

 immersed in sterilising liquids and have survived in 5 p. cent, 

 phenol for 50 hours and in other similar liquids in which 

 their immediate destruction would have been expected ; 

 opening serious medical questions. A new electrical method 

 of testing the vitality of seeds has been discovered, the 

 electrical response being proportional to the seed's vitality. 

 The botany of the Philippine Islands is being well worked, 

 and 7,000 species of flowering plants are known, as against 

 about 2,500 15 years ago. The floras of different parts of 

 India have in many cases been published and are still being 

 worked out, that of the Nilgiri and Pulney Hill-tops being 



