-'34- 



vestigated. The investigations are considered as only preliminary, 

 but the general trend of the evidence tends to show that solutions 

 of the solutes which diffuse readily through the seed coverings differ 

 in some essential manner from solutions of nondiffusible solutes. 

 An explanation is offered in which it is stated that "some unre- 

 cognized peculiarity in the manner in which the molecules of the 

 two classes of solutes are combined with the molecules of the solvent 

 water may constitute the factor which orders their different behavior 

 with respect to the seed coverings ". 



Dodder Seeds in Seed Mixtures. (Journal of Roy. Agric. Soc., 

 vol. 69, 1908). The Journal of the Board of Agriculture, Fe- 

 bruary 1910, vol. XVI, No. n, p. 933. London. 



Experiments have been carried out by the Society's Consulting 

 Botanist, to ascertain the danger from dodder seeds present in 

 clover or in ready-made seed mixtures for laying down pastures. 

 Dodder seeds of the two kinds, the larger foreign and the native, 

 were sown with various seeds used in agriculture, red clover, alsike, 

 trefoil, lucerne, timothy, rye grass, cocksfoot, rape, and kale. Both 

 kinds of dodder attached themselves to these very different plants, 

 and the various clovers were more or less rapidly destroyed; little 

 damage was done to the cruciferous plants like rape and kale, 

 and practically none to the grasses. The dodder grew, flowered, 

 and produced seeds on the clovers, while the other plants only 

 provided food for the parasite for a time. The grasses suffered 

 least from the attack, but they supported the dodder plants from 

 twentyone to thirty-four days in a condition vigorous enough to 

 enable them to spread to the neighbouring plants. The presence 

 of dodder seed in seed used for leys is obviously dangerous, and 

 the suggestion that seed containing dodder may safely be used in 

 pasture is incorrect. 



W. E. BRENCHLEY and A. D. HALL. The development of the 



Grain of Wheat. Rothamsted Experiment Station; The journal 

 of Agricultural Science, vol. Ill, part 2, October 1909, pp. 195-215. 



These experiments were made with the purpose to study the 

 process going forward in the latter part of the life of the wheat 

 i. e. the migration of accumulated material from the stem and 

 leaves to the grain, and the progressive changes in the composition 

 of the grain. 



