2 32 



NATURE 



[May 17, 1917 



The National Clean Milk Society has issued a report 

 of an investigation into the hygienic quality of the 

 milk supplied to babies attending certain schools for 

 mothers. The milk was supplied by twenty-seven 

 dealers, and a sample from each was examined. Only 

 six of the samples contained not more than 500,000 

 bacteria per cubic centimetre; one contained more 

 than 100,000,000. Two of the samples contained 

 tubercle bacilli. Hints are also given how to inquire 

 about the domestic milk supply, and details are given 

 of the milk supply in certain American cities. The 

 National Clean Milk Society (2 Soho Square, W.i) is 

 doing good work and national service in trying to 

 raise the standard of our milk supply. Its member- 

 ship is open to all, and additional members are much 

 needed. 



A BEE disease entitled "Sacbrood" is described by 

 G. F. White in Bulletin 431 of the U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture. This is not a new disease, but 

 a,ppears to have been included by bee-keepers under 

 "pickled brood," a term which has acquired a very 

 comprehensive meaning. " Sacbrood " attacks the 

 larvae in various stages, and is shown by the author 

 to be transmitted in a "filterable virus"; no definite 

 micro-organism can be detected. 



A COMMUNICATION has reached us from Mr. Timmler, 

 a civil servant in British conquered territory, German 

 East Africa, New Langenburg, on the subject of the 

 destruction of tsetse-flies. It is the somewhat sur- 

 prising one of " gassing " the flies with a gas pre- 

 ferably innocuous to man, but fatal to the flies, 

 or if deadly to man and flies, the use of masks, etc., 

 would become imperative while operations were pro- 

 ceeding. The suggestion is that the monsoons would 

 carry the gas across the fly-infested areas. We regard 

 the proposal as impracticable, but an experiment would 

 be better than any expression of adverse opinion. 



An interesting lecture by Mr. Govindam, Deputy 

 Director of Fisheries for Madras, is published in the 

 "Book of the Madras Exhibition, 19x5-16." Huge 

 quantities of the Indian "oil sardine" have always 

 been available on this coast, and formerly these fish 

 were converted into a manure by simple drying on 

 ■ the beach. An intolerable nuisance, described as " the 

 iBrst line of coast defence," was the result, and the 

 fertiliser produced was poor in quality. In 1909 the 

 Fisheries Department introduced a simple method of 

 expressing the oil and drying the resulting fish-cake 

 to form a kind of guano of value as a fertiliser, since 

 it contained little oil. The method was extensively 

 copied by the natives, with the result that the value 

 of the oil obtained rose from Rs.52,630 in 1910-11 to 

 Rs.2, 29,014 in 1913-14, while the corresponding values 

 of the fish guano produced were Rs. 13,648 and 

 Rs.4,03,787. 



Up to the present this year we have only received 

 the first number of the Kew Bulletin, and it contains 

 articles mainly of importance for the Colonies and 

 India. There is a long systematic account of the 

 fungus flora of the Uganda forests, which is the first 

 attempt to give a comprehensive account of the fungi 

 of this region, and is a useful step in the direction 

 of the preparation of a fungus flora of tropical Africa. 

 As regards India, several new species of plants are 

 descrilDed by Mr. Gamble, which will be incorporated 

 in his " Flora of Madras," now in course of publica- 

 tion. 



The fungus diseases of Para rubber, Hevea brasili- 

 ensis, appear to be assuming rather large proportions, 



NO. 2481, VOL. 99] 



and are bccupying the attention of mycologists in the 

 Elast to a considerable extent. The species of Phyto- 

 phthora which attacks the tapped areas of the stems 

 forms the subject 61 a paper by Mr. J. F. Dastur in 

 the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in 

 India (vol. viii.. No. 5, 19 16). The fungus which is 

 known as "black thread" causes black stripes on the 

 tapping area, and is a serious disease in preventing 

 the proper healing of the tapped surfaces. The black 

 thread of Burma appears to be distinct from the 

 disease of the same name recorded from Ceylon, which 

 is due to Phytophthora Faberi, also the cause' of a 

 bad cocoa disease, and this fungus not only occurs 

 as a canker on the stems, but also badly affects, the 

 seeds of Hevea. Remedial measures are discussed 

 for the Burmese species, but the most efficacious 

 measure appears to be to abstain from tapping the 

 diseased trees during the rainy season. Accounts 

 published of other fungus diseases of Para rubber in 

 the Federated Malay States show that the future of 

 the rubber industry may cause some anxiety. 



The council of the Royal Agricultural Society has 

 just issued the first of a proposed series of " Occa- 

 sional Notes," by means of which it is hoped that the 

 members may be kept more or less continuously in 

 touch with the work carried on by the scientific officers 

 of the society. The first number includes a note by 

 Sir John McFadyean on joint-ill in foals; notes by 

 Prof. Biffen on seeds, eradication of weeds in meadow- 

 land, and the spraying of potatoes for the prevention 

 of "blight"; notes on insect pests by Mr. Cecil War- 

 burton, and on certain points of interest in .connection 

 with fertilisers and feeding-stuffs by Dr. J. A. 

 Voelcker. The matters dealt with are such as have 

 previously been dealt with only in the annual reports 

 of the officers, but through the medium of these 

 periodical notes a more rapid and timely dissemination 

 of information and advice will be secured, and the 

 efficiency of the society's advisory work correspondingly 

 increased. Reference may also be made to an excel- 

 lent leaflet on the ox warble-fly, or bot-fly, which has 

 been drawn up by Mr. Warburton and issued by the 

 society. 



An interesting report by Prof. V. H. Blackman and 

 Mr. I. Jorgensen on the results obtained in 19 16 in 

 field investigations into the effect of overhead electric 

 discharge upon crop production appears in the April 

 number of the Journal of the Board of Agriculture. 

 The experiments, which are a continuation of those 

 initiated by Prof. J. H. Priestley, were carried out, as 

 in previoas years, *at Lincluden Mains Farm, Dum- 

 fries, under the supervision of Miss E. C. Dudgeon. 

 A uniform field of nine teres was used for the pur- 

 pose, one acre being selected as the electrified area 

 and two half-acre plots as controls. In comparison 

 with previous years the charged wires were lower and 

 closer together, so that the intensity of the discharge 

 received by the crop was much increased. Oats were 

 sown on March 27, and by May 16 the crop on the 

 electrified area had established a marked lead, which 

 it retained to the end. The discharge was applied 

 for 848 hours during the season, being used only in 

 the daytime and discontinued during actual rain. The 

 final results showed for the electrified area the 

 astonishing increases over the average of the control 

 areas of 49 per cent, in grain and 88 per cent, in 

 straw, the increased value of the crop being estimated 

 at 6Z. 7s. per acre. The cost of the current used, if 

 taken at id. per unit, amounted to only i-is. The 

 further interesting observation was made of a marked 

 " after-effect " on the electrified area used in the pre- 

 vious year the clover crop which succeeded the oats 



