43 

 SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 



Published 1923 and 1924. 



CROPS AND PLANT GROWTH : STATISTICAL 

 METHODS AND RESULTS. 



(Botanical, Chemical and Statistical Departments.) 



(a) Crops and Plant Growth. 



I. Winifred E. Brenchley. " The Effect of Iodine on 



Soils and Plants." Annals of Applied Biology, 1924, 

 Vol. XL, pp. 86-111. 



Attempts to find an economic use for iodine in agriculture 

 either for partial sterilisation or as a direct means of increasing- 

 growth led in the main to negative conclusions. There was no 

 definite evidence of partial sterilisation, nor of any reduction in 

 loss from " damping oft' " of tomato seedlings as a result of 

 treating the soil with iodine dissolved in sodium iodide solution. 



Strong doses of iodine inhibited or badly checked germina- 

 tion of mustard. Some of the plants made a striking recovery 

 and ultimately surpassed the untreated controls in green and dry 

 weight. If some time elapses between treatment and sowing 

 the mustard is unaffected, showing neither the initial toxic effect 

 nor the later recovery and stimulation. 



Barley is more easily injured than mustard by iodine. 



II. Amar Nath Puri. " Effect of Methyl and Ethyl 



Alcohol on the Growth of Barley Plants/' Annals of 

 Botany, 1924. Vol. XXXV1IL, pp. 745-752. 



Experiments were carried out in water culture to determine 

 the effect of various alcohols on barley when applied to the roots. 

 Ethyl alcohol proved to be more toxic than methyl alcohol, the 

 difference in the toxicity being not merely one of degree, but of 

 kind. Ethyl alcohol favours the growth of ear shoots and the 

 suppression of vegetative leaves, while methyl alcohol favours 

 the growth of leaves and not that of the ear shoots. In the 

 later stages of growth plants are able to withstand the toxic 

 action of ethyl alcohol much better than earlier in life. 



III. W. E. Brenchley and H. G. Thornton. " The 



Relation between the Development, Structure and 

 Functioning of the Nodules on ' Vicia faba ' as 

 influenced by the Presence or Absence of Boron in the 

 Nutrient Medium." Proceedings of the Royal Society. 

 B. 1925. 



The work deals with the growth and functioning of nodules 

 on Vicia faba, comparing those grown in culture media from 

 which boron has been excluded with those supplied with boron. 



In the absence of boron the vascular supply of the nodule is 

 defective. The strands are entirely absent, or weakly developed, 

 running only a short distance into the nodule. The nodules 

 having no vascular strands remain minute and are usually buried 



