222 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1340 



erin will continue investigating Eutetix tenella 

 in relation to sugar beet blight, while Messrs. 

 E. E. de Ong and G. A. Coleman will continue 

 tbeir activities in their respective fields, 

 namely, university farm school and agricul- 

 ture, respectively. 



The Olympia Agricultural Company, Ltd., is 

 a British syndicate which has purchased agri- 

 cultural estates aggregating 20,000 acres in the 

 counties of Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire and 

 Wiltshire. The Experiment Station Record 

 states that a research department has recently 

 been organized under the direction of Dr. 

 Charles Crowther, professor of agricultural 

 chemistry in the University of Leeds and di- 

 rector of the institute for research in animal 

 nutrition in that university. This department 

 will exercise advisory functions in connection 

 with the large scale farming operations of the 

 company, and for some time its activities will 

 consist mainly of experiments essential to the 

 establishment of a sound basis for this advisory 

 work, but it is announced that its primary ob- 

 ject will be to conduct research in various 

 branches of agricultural science and practise 

 for the general welfare of British agriculture. 



The British Forestry Conference at the 

 meeting held recently in London passed a 

 resolution in favor of the formation of an Em- 

 pire Forestry Association, for the promotion 

 and development of public interest in forestry 

 throughout the empire, and also created an 

 interim committee to consider ways and means. 

 The committee appointed has drawn up pro- 

 posals for circulation to all parts of the empire, 

 for the establishment of a governing council 

 for the association, and for the formation of an 

 interim executive committee. The committee 

 held that in view of the vast area embraced, the 

 association's activities, apart from occasional 

 conferences, must take a literary form. Its 

 principal medium of communication would 

 probably consist of a journal, issued quarterly. 

 A publication of this kind, dealing with the 

 needs, problems and progress of forestry in all 

 parts of the empire, should, it is felt, be of in- 

 terest and practical value to foresters, students 



of forestry and owners of woodlands, as well 

 as the architects, engineers and traders inter- 

 ested in the distribution and use of timber. 



Plans of the State Forestry Department 

 for extensive reforestation in the woods and 

 on the waste lands of Pennsylvania this year 

 will call for the largest amount of seeds ever 

 used and efforts are being made to secure as 

 much as possible from indigenous trees. This 

 will be the first time this work has been under- 

 taken on such an extensive scale. As this is 

 a year of heavy seed bearing by most of the 

 species of forest trees unusually large quanti- 

 ties of seed will be collected from the various 

 State forests. Any seed not planted in the 

 four state forest tree nurseries next spring 

 will be held over for planting the year follow- 

 ing in case it is a lean seed year. While most 

 of the seed to be collected will be used to grow 

 young forest trees for planting on state lands 

 and on private timber lands, some from 

 deciduous trees will produce shade trees for 

 free distribution to cities and boroughs for 

 municipal and educational plantings. 



A SECOND edition of the Index Generalis of 

 universities, university colleges, libraries, scien- 

 tific institutes, museums, observatories, learned 

 societies, etc., is being prepared. Particulars 

 are accepted from all nationalities, and should 

 be addressed to Professor R. de Montessus de 

 Ballore, 56, Eue de Vaugirard, Paris (VI°). 



The birth rate for the metropolitan area of 

 Sydney, N. S. W., for 1919 was the lowest on 

 record, being 14 per cent, below the average 

 for the previous five years. The rate is equiva- 

 lent to 23.05 per 1,000 of population. The de- 

 cline in the birth rate since 1914 has been 5 

 per 1,000, but probably not all the decline can 

 be attributed to the war, as the rate, after in- 

 creasing from 1903 to 1912, declined slightly 

 from 1912 to 1914. Illegitimate children num- 

 bered Y.41 per cent, of the total births, equiva- 

 lent to 1.71 per 100 of population. 



It is stated in the Experiment Station 

 Record that the government of Argentina has 

 recently offered additional scholarships in the 

 agricultural schools, of Casilda, Tucuman, 

 Cordoba and Mendoza to young men of Peru 



