NATURE 



[August i8, 1910 



cultivated in Scotland, and the necessary bacteria are pre- 

 sumably not present to any great extent in the soil. 

 Addition of the organisms by inoculation has proved 

 successful. 



The changes taking place during the storage of butter 

 have been investigated at the Michigan Agricultural College 

 Kxperiment Station by Messrs. Rahn, Brown and Smith. 

 There was a distinct increase in the non-protein nitrogen, 

 indicating a certain amount of proteolysis, but the exact 

 agent was not determined. There were, however, micro- 

 organisms found multiplying even at —6° C, whilst a 

 torula proved extraordinarily resistant to salt, even grow- 

 ing in a 25 per cent, salt broth. 



The use of insecticides containing arsenic appears to 

 be attended with considerable disadvantage in India, and 

 experiments have for some time past been carried out at 

 the Agricultural Research Station, Pusa, with the view of 

 discovering some other compounds equally effective. Lead 

 chromate was finally selected ; being yellow, it is easily 

 visible on the plant ; it does not burn the foliage, and it 

 adheres well. A suspension of i lb. in 64 gallons of 

 water proved effective on plants that are being attacked, 

 while I lb. in 100 gallons of water proved a sufficient 

 preventive. 



.A RECENT circular of the Royal Rotanic Gardens, Ceylon, 

 contains an account, by Mr. Fetch, of the root disease of 

 the cocoa-nut palm caused by the fungus Fames lucidus 

 (Leys). No method of curing a diseased tree is known ; 

 once a tree is attacked there is little hope of saving it 

 unless some only of the roots are affected and can be cut 

 off. This only rarely happens, and it is usually best to 

 fell the tree at once. Methods of treatment are badly 

 needed for cases such as this ; there seems to be no prospect 

 of successful treatment b}' the internal application of a 

 fungicide, since the tree is more easily killed than the 

 fungus. 



The renewed interest now being taken in the LTnited 

 States in all questions affecting natural resources, and 

 particularly the soil, is reflected in the articles in the 

 Popular Science Monthly (No. 6). Dr. McGee describes 

 the scientific work of the Department of Agriculture, which 

 includes more than half of the official bureaus in the 

 States. Prof. Brigham gives a popular account of soil 

 formation and of weathering, and shows how such appar- 

 ently trifling details as the lowering of the level of water 

 in the soil through the operations of man may in course 

 of time lead to profound changes. There is also a well- 

 illustrated paper by Prof. Herrick on instinct and intelli- 

 gence in birds. 



The July number of the Journal of the Board of Agri- 

 culture contains a paper by Messrs. Robinson and Watt 

 describing the Coombe plantation, Keswick, which was 

 planted in 1848, and is now being cleared. It is remark- 

 able in that careful accounts have been kept of all costs 

 and of all returns, and further in that experimental groups 

 of trees have been periodically measured. A discussion of 

 the data is given, and there are a number of good photo- 

 graphs. .Another paper, by Mr. A. B. Bruce, aims at 

 giving the stock-breeder a general account of Mendelism 

 which should go far to satisfy him that the scientific 

 treatment of his problems is likely to lead to valuable 

 results. 



Rece.vt bulletins from the United Stales Department of 

 Agriculture Bureau of Entomology deal with (i) the 

 western grass-stem saw-fly (Cephus occidcniulis, Rilt-y and 

 :<0. 2129. VOX.. S4J 



Marlatt), which causes trouble to the wheat-growers of 

 Xorth Dakota and elsewhere ; (2) the woolly white-fly 

 {Aleyrodes howardi, Ouaintance), a new enemy of the 

 Florida orange, which hitherto has only been known to 

 infest orange trees in some of the West India islands, and 

 especially Cuba; (3) the oyster-shell scale (Lepidosaphes 

 uUni, L.) and the scurfy scale (Chionaspis furfura. Fitch), 

 now very generally distributed through the States, and 

 sometimes confounded with the more serious San Jos^ 

 scale ; although they do not actually kill the trees, they 

 cause serious financial loss; (4) the "brown rot" 

 {Sclerotinia fructigenia, P. Schrot.) and plum curculio 

 (Conotrachelus nenuphar, Herbst.) of fruit trees ; the 

 former is a fungus disease of the flowers, twigs, and fruit, 

 especially harmful at the time of ripening ; the latter is 

 an insect that, in the course of its feeding and egg-laying, 

 punctures the fruit, often so copiously that much loss is 

 suffered ; (5) the sorghum midge {Contarinia [T)iplosis\ 

 sorghicola, Coq.), which is by far the most destructive 

 agent affecting sorghum. A general description of the 

 insects attacking crops in Michigan is issued by the 

 Michigan State Agricultural College Experiment Station; 

 the bulletin is well illustrated, and contains a considerable 

 amount of useful information. 



Messrs. Burroi.;giis, Wellcome .\fiD Co. have issued, in 

 connection with their exhibit at the Japan-British Exhibit, 

 tion, an illustrated descriptive pamphlet (in English and 

 in French) of the Wellcome Physiological Research 

 Laboratories and of the work done there. This includes 

 the preparation and standardisation of diphtheria anti- 

 toxins and other therapeutic sera, bacterial vaccines, the 

 physiological standardisation of drugs such as ergot, &c. 



TriE fourth annual report of the Metropolitan Water 

 Board, by Dr. Houston, on the results of the chemical 

 and bacteriological examination of London waters for the 

 year ending March 31 last, has recently been issued. It 

 contains a mass of figures relating to the bacterial con- 

 tent and chemical composition of the raw, stored, and 

 filtered water supplied to the metropolis, valuable on 

 account of the systematic examination of the water and 

 as showing how our water supply is, so far as possible, 

 safeguarded. Dr. Houston again insists that the raw 

 waters are undoubtedly unsatisfactory in quality, but that 

 storage with sedimentation effects a considerable improve- 

 ment, and he emphasises the supreme importance of 

 storage as a moans of preliminary purification of the raw 

 water. 



The new catalogue of the Cambridge Scientific Instru- 

 ment Co., describing DuddcU oscillographs, gives par- 

 ticulars of the latest type of these instruments. The 

 improvements incorporated in this instrument include 

 greater accessibility and ease of repair of the vibrators and 

 alteration of the design in such a manner as to prevent 

 the leakage of oil from the damping chamber, which was 

 such an unpleasant feature of the old type. Particulars 

 are given of the accessory apparatus required and of the 

 methods of using the instrument, and an appendix contains 

 reproductions of a number of interesting records of wave 

 shapes. 



We are in receipt of a copy of the " Catalogue of 

 Mechanical Engineering and Electricity," containing in- 

 formation concerning the British exhibits in these sections 

 at the Brussels Exhibition. The preface is written by 

 Prof. W. C. Unwin and Mr. John Goodman, and gives a 

 summary of the progression and tendencies of engineering 

 science as exemplified by the ^'xhibits referred to in the 



