May 11,^1916] 



NATURM^ 



22:5 



funds. The more widely its aims are known the 

 greater the chances of thi? station receiving the 

 support which it deserves. For deserve it, it 

 does. When hard-headed, hard-working, practical 

 men band themselves together and put their ener- 

 gies and money into the establishment of a re- 

 search station, and particularly when these men 

 are Englishmen, they deserve no less support than 

 is given to a polar expedition or a football cup- 

 final. Fortunately, this enterprise, due in the first 

 place to the initiative of the Lea Valley and Dis- 

 trict Nurserymen's and Growers' Association, and 

 also, as we believe, to the persuasive enthusiasm 

 of Dr. Russell, of Rothamsted, has received a 

 generous measure of support from the Board of 

 Agriculture, from the Hertfordshire and the Essex 

 County Councils, and from the Duke of Bedford. 

 With the funds thus obtained laboratories and 

 experimental glasshouses have been built at an 

 outlay of 3278Z., of which sum all but 650Z. has 

 been paid. 



A brief account of the preliminary researches 

 carried out during 191 5 will serve to indicate 

 what a number of problems of practical import- 

 ance emerge so soon as the searchlight of investi- 

 gation is turned on an industry. As a preliminary 

 to the investigation of yields of tomatoes, the soil 

 of the five houses built for the cultivation of this 

 crop was standardised. The soil in each house 

 received the same amounts of lime, straw-manure, 

 and bone-meal, and also similar treatment with 

 respect to mulching, top-dressing, watering, etc. 

 Fifteen varieties of tomato were grown in each 

 of the five houses. Yet in spite of the similarity 

 of soil conditions and of plants, the yields from 

 the houses varied very considerably. House No. 2 

 stood highest with 3 tons 19 cwt. of fruit, and 

 house No. 5 lowest with 3 tons 6 cwt. ; in each 

 case from 918 plants. Is this difference, which 

 amounts to about 16 jjer cent., to be accounted 

 for on the basis of expjerimental error, or is it to 

 be attributed to some varying factor, such as the 

 seed? In other words, would the isolation of 

 pure lines of tomatoes help to bring the lower 

 nearer to the higher yield? We have no doubt 

 but that it would ; but evidently the last word 

 must lie with experiment. 



Tests with humogen carried out with tomatoes 

 and cucumbers offer no ground for the hope that 

 this material is destined to replace manure or 

 reduce cost of production. As with the experi- 

 ments at Wisley and elsewhere, so here ; the addi- 

 tion of humogen led to little or no increase in the 

 crop, and the present writer is steadUy inclining 

 to the opinion that the remarkable results ob- 

 tained at Kew were due to the accidental admix- 

 ture of some fertiliser — presumably a phosphate — 

 with the humogen which produced those results. 



Very interesting are the results recorded in the 

 report of observations on the yield of cucumbers 

 from the slightly warmer and slightly cooler halves 

 of four houses. In each case the part of the house 

 nearer the boiler, and hence appreciably warmer, 

 gave a lower yield. Anyone who has experienced 

 the tropical warmth of a cucumber house must 

 have felt that it was too much of a good thing. It 



NO. 2428, VOL. 97] 



looks as though the plants feel this too, aod that 

 a little rest from intensive speeding up of produc- 

 tion is no less benefk:ial to them than to other 

 living things. The director, Mr. A. B. Lister, is 

 to be congratulated on the excellent start that he. 

 has made. He has a fine opportunity, and we feel 

 sure that he will use it to the best advantage of 

 the society which has had the enterprise and faith 

 to harness science to the market cart. They will 

 remember, however, that she is slow-moving, not; 

 showy, expensive to keep, and, above all, needs 

 to be given her head. F. K. 



NOTES. 



It is announced that the Government has decided 

 to send an expedition to the Antarctic to relieve Sir 

 Ernest Shackleton. The failure of the Endurance to 

 put in an appearance gives cause for considerable 

 anxiety ; and while it is not impossible that she may 

 still return unaided, no time can be wasted in organis- 

 ing relief. The arrangements for the expedition are 

 to be put in the care of a small committee of polar 

 experts, which is now being formed. Among those 

 who will probably be asked to give their advice are 

 Dr. W. S. Bruce, who is almost the only explorer in 

 this country who knows the Weddell Sea, and Sir 

 Douglas Mawson. Capt. J. K. Davis, who was 

 recently in London on a short visit, has already been 

 consulted. The choice of a ship will be difficult, as 

 there are very tew vessels in existence which are suit- 

 able for navigation in the Weddell Sea. In all prob- 

 ability the Aurora, despite the damage she has sus- 

 tained, can be refitted and sent to the Ross Sea to fetch 

 Capt. Macintosh and his comrades, who were left 

 ashore in Erebus Gulf. Mr. Stenhouse, who brought 

 the Aurora to New Zealand, is now on his way to 

 this countr3,\ 



A BRONZE memorial tablet to the memory of Capt. 

 Scott and his companions, who perished on their 

 return journey from the South Pole,, has been placed 

 in St. Paul's Cathedral. The memorial takes the 

 form of a medallion portrait of Capt. Scott and a 

 relief panel of the polar party on the march. It is 

 surmounted by three allegorical figures — Discipline, 

 Glory, and Courage. The tablet is the work of Mr. 

 S. N. Babb, and is part of the national memorial 

 scheme to the lost explorers, for which funds were 

 collected when the news of the disaster became known. 

 The inscription reads : — " In memorv of Captain 

 Robert Falcon Scott, C.V.O., R.N.,' Dr. Edward 

 Adrian Wilson, Captain Lawrence Edward Grace 

 Gates, Lieut. Henry- Robertson Bowers, and Petty 

 Officer Edgar Evans, who died on their return journey 

 from the South Pole in February and March, 1912. 

 Inflexible of purpose — steadfast in courage — resolute 

 in endurance in the face of unparalleled misfortune — 

 their bodies are lost in the Antarctic Ice — but the 

 memorv of their deeds is an everlasting monument." 

 Mr. Asquith, in unveiling the memorial last Friday, 

 said that whatever softening influences may have been 

 at work during our long years of peace, there were 

 never wanting men of our race to maintain our best 

 traditions of courage and endurance. The heroism of 

 the lonely end of Scott and his companions might, in 

 these crowded days of great opportunity, be equalled, 

 ': but could not be surpassed. These were men who, 

 i before the great ordeal which, on a world-wide stage, 

 i is now testing our national manhood, showed in the 

 dim polar twilight, without witnesses, and, for all they 

 ! knew, with no record which would ever reach their 

 j countrymen, the supreme quality of self-forgetful. 

 ■ courage and endurance. 



