154 



THE GA RDENERS 7 CHR ONI CLE. 



[March 9, 1912. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK, poisoned by coumarin have stunted tops terested in the advance of agricultural 



MONDAY, MARCH 11- 



U. H. Ben. and Prov. Soc. Ann. Meet, at 8 p.m. 



THURSDAY, MARCH 14- 



Roy. Hort. Soc. Exh. of South African Products, includ- 

 ing Cereals (3 days). 



North of England Hort. Soc. meet at Bradford. 

 Brit. Gardeners' As oc. Dinner at Hoiborn Restaurant. 



and broad, distorted leaves ; quinone education, that the time is ripe for the 



causes the plants to be tall and slender, formation of County Council Agricultural 



with thin, narrow leaves ; vanillin strongly Committees, whose function should be to 



inhibits root growth, and also top growth. deal with all agricultural matters other 



The effects of coumarin are most than those which concern agricultural 



easily overcome by phosphatic manures, teaching in the elementary schools. 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Year- 

 at Greenwich-41'3°. 



Actual Temperatures: — 



London.— Wednesday, March 6 (6 p.m.): Max. 52°; 



Min. 39°. 



Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Covent Garden, London — Thursday, March 7 

 (10 a.m.) : Bar. 29'6 W ; Temp. 48° ; Weather— 

 Sunshine. 



Provin< ks. — H erinesdtiv, March 6: Max 48° Cam- 

 bridge ; Min. 41° Liverpool. 



vanillin is best counteracted by nitro- 



With respect to the advisory work to 



genous manures, whilst the quinone effects which we have referred already, the 



are checked most readily by potash salts. President announced that the Board of 



The differences are very remarkable ; and Agriculture is prepared to make grants 



whereas vanillin produces toxic effects to county councils in order to enable 



very like those set up by dihydroxystearic them to co-operate with the colleges in 



■ ■ a a v a a _ a a *a— r 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



MONDAY and WEDNESDAY - 



Rose Trees, Fruit Trees, Perennials, Liliums, Trained 

 Bay Trees, Palms, &c, at 12.30, at Stevens's Auction 

 Rooms, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, London. 



MONDAY and FRIDAY— 



Herbaceous and other Plants, Lilies and Hardy Bulbs, 

 at 12 ; Roses and Fruit Trees, at 1.30 ; at 67 & 68, Cheap- 

 side, E.C., by Protheroe & Morris. 



WEDNESDAY— 



Japanese Lilies and Hardy Bulbs, Perennials, &c.,at 12 

 Roses and Fruit Trees, at 1.30 ; Palms and Plants, at 5 ; 

 at 67 & 68, Cheapside, E.C., by Protheroe & Morris. 



FRIDAY— 



Imported and Established Orchids, at 67 & 68, Cheap- 

 side, E.C., by Protheroe & Morris, at 12.45. 



acid, quinone, which is an oxidizing agent, 

 is antagonized by those manures which re- 

 tard oxidation. 



Dr. Schreiner regards it as abundantly 



establishing strong staffs of advisory 

 experts. 



It would seem, therefore, that a great 

 scheme for agricultural advance is started 



proved that harmful organic bodies such auspiciously, and it only remains for the 



as these occur in soils, and it becomes counties to rise to the responsibilities 



possible that a given field may have a which are offered to them, to appoint 



different fertiliser requirement from year strong and representative committees to 



to year, according as the rotation of crop 



and the consequent alteration in the 



plant remains returned to the soil. 



Such questions as these can only be 



investigated at experimental stations, 



where the history of the soil for many 



years past is known accurately ; there can 



Poisons 

 in the 

 il. 



After nearly a century of m- v Q ™ a^ua- 4-l„4. +l „ :n . 



.... ., , i r j be no doubt that they will repay amply 



vestigation it has been found + i _, _ i 1 , ,7. ., * * -. 



& ., t . i • 4.L ttie cost and labour that they entail, 



impossible to explain the J 



action of fertilisers as due 



altogether to their direct value as plant 

 foods. There is abundant evidence that 

 artificial fertilisers influence crops in 

 other and less direct ways. It follows, 

 therefore, that a fertiliser properly used 

 has more than one beneficial effect, and 

 that the same fertiliser improperly used 



A 



As our readers may remem- 

 Nationai ^er, the scheme for develop- 



Dairy- 

 Research 



mg agriculture which has 



institution. been draw * up by the Board 



of Agriculture and passed 

 by the Treasury involves three depar- 

 tures. First, the creation of staffs of ex- 



carry out the work of organising farm 

 schools, and to arrange for co-operation 

 with the colleges. The Board of Agricul- 

 ture and its President, Mr. Runciman, 

 have earned the thanks of the agricul- 

 tural community for the energy with 

 which they have carried to a successful 

 issue the difficult negotiations connected 

 with the scheme. In joining in these con- 

 gratulations, we desire to express em- 

 phatically the hope that the farm 

 institutes of the counties w T ill not all be 

 of a kind, and that in those counties where 

 market gardening, fruit growing, and 

 other branches of horticulture form impor- 

 tant industries, the farm institutes will be 

 so organised as to give prominence, and, 



has more than one bad effect. Hence a f erts ln the various agricultural col- indeed, priority to these special depart- 



thorough and complete understanding of 

 the various effects of artificial manures 

 on plant and on soil is greatly to be 

 desired. The work of Dr. Schreiner 

 and his colleagues of the Bureau of Soils 

 of the United States Department of 



leges whose functions will be to give 

 advice in the locality of the several col- 

 leges and to conduct experiments calcu- 

 lated to lead to practical results useful 

 to the local agricultural community. 

 Secondly, the establishment of farm 



ments of horticulture. 



Agriculture, has brought, during the last schools in the counties, which schools shall 

 few years, a new factor to our notice, 

 namely, the presence in soils of organic 



serve as centres for instruction in agri- 

 culture. Third, the foundation of six re- 



compounds harmful to growth. One of search institutes, which shall perform for 



Royal International Horticultural 

 Exhibition. — We have announced already that 

 the Belgian State Railways and the South-Eastern 

 and Chatham Railway Company have agreed to 

 issue cheap tickets (50 per cent, under the usual 

 price) for visitors to the Exhibition from all parts 

 of Belgium. The Great Eastern llailway has now 

 decided to follow suit. This will be of great 



these plant-poisons, termed dihydroxy- agriculture generally what the local col- benefit to those who prefer to travel by the Hook 



stearic acid, has been very fully investi- 

 gated. This substance is found to hinder 

 the growth of plants even in the presence spheres of influence. 



leges are destined to do for the agricul- 

 ture of the areas within their several 



of fertilisers, but the harmful effect is 



Of these institutes, those for the study 



least when the ratio of these salts is a of P lant breeding and animal nutrition 



proper one for growth and greatest when are to be located at Cambridge. Soil 



the ratio is not well suited for plant studies are to be carried on at Rotham- 



growth. This poisonous soil substance is sted. 



relatively much less harmful in the pre- We now learn from an announcement 



sence of nitrogenous fertilisers which tend made by Mr. Runciman, President of the 



to increase root oxidation. In continuation Board of Agriculture, that the institute 



of this work the influence of three other for dairy research is to be attached to the Exhibition. 



of Holland-Harwich route, which is in many 

 ways a very convenient one, though the sea- 

 passage is somewhat longer than via Ostend- 

 Dover. The large party of American visitors who 

 propose to come over to England in order 

 to visit the Exhibition, under the auspices of the 

 Florists' Exchange, will travel by the White 

 Star liner " Titanic/' a boat of 45,000 tons regis- 

 ter. The departure from New York is fixed for 

 May 11, and the visitors will arrive about the 

 18th.. The return will be fixed for a date suffi- 

 ciently late to allow the visitors to make a short 

 excursion to the Continent after the closing of 



organic compounds, coumarin, vanillin, 

 and quinone has been studied. 



The 



the University College, Reading. Speak- 

 ing at Reading last week, Mr. Runciman 



first two are compounds which may often stated that, subject to the compliance of 



be brought into the soil by decaying vege- the college with the conditions imposed 



tation, and quinone may arise from 



proteins. All three substances are toxic. 



Their effect has been studied mainlv 



by the Board, the college would re- 

 ceive from the Development Grant a 

 sum up to a maximum of £2,500 per 

 annum to provide two-thirds of the an- 



on Wheat seedlings grow r n in soils contain- 

 ing various ratios of one, two, and three nual cost of the Dairy-Research Institute. 



constituents of the three fertilisers (salts 

 of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash) which 

 constitute a complete artificial manure. buildings. 



The Board of Agriculture would also 

 provide half the cost of the necessary 



Each of the three poisons named above 



Mr. Runciman also expressed the 



affects plants in a different way. Plants opinion, which will be shared by all in- chair. 



Royal Gardeners* Orphan Fund. —The 

 committee of the Royal Gardeners' Orphan Fund 

 acknowledges its indebtedness to a gentleman 

 who was unable to be present at the recen 

 annual meeting, but who has since made a con- 

 tribution that will enable the committee to pay 

 5s. a week for 12 months to one of the unsuccess- 

 ful candidates on that occasion. 



British Gardeners' Association. — We are 

 requested to remind our readers that this associ 

 tion's dinner will take place at the Hoiborn 

 Restaurant, on Thursday, March 14. The Presi- 

 dent, the Earl of Plymouth, will occupy tne 







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