April 20, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



o 



03 



Public Park for Chesterfield.— Alderman 



Government Help for Settlers in Nova 



Submerged Forest. — A short account of 



George A. Eastwood, Chesterfield, has pre- Scotia, Canada.— Under the provisions of a the exposure of the submerged forest at Fresh- 



borou 



Bill introduced by the Nova Scotian Government 



the authorities will enter into arrangements with 



town a fine country house, Hasland Hall, and loan companies by which 80 per cent, of the ap- 



of his father, who was a great benefactor to the 



water Wert, Pembrokeshire, appears in Nature, 



March 28, 1912. An unusually high tide, com- 

 bined with extensive shifting: of sand and shingle, 



its 15 acres of grounds, as a public park. 



Forestry in Scotland. — The Departmental 

 Committee on Forestry in Scotland, which 

 was formed to report on a suitable location for a 

 demonstration forest in Scotland, considered that 

 such an area should contain not less than 4,000 

 acres, of which one half should embrace growing 

 woods. The committee fear it may be difficult 

 to secure a suitable area. The necessary capital 

 outlay for establishment is estimated at £15,500, 

 and the initial annual expenditure at £2,400. For 

 the promotion of forestry in Scotland the com- 

 mittee recommend a flying survey to determine 

 the best forest sites and their extent, the appoint- 

 ment of an advising forester, who would require 

 at least one assistant, and the formation of a 

 small number of State-owned trial forests. 



Manuring of Grass Land. —The Joint 



praised value of farms may be lent to farmers permitted Lieut. Col. F. Lambton to examine the 

 who wish to settle in the country. Easy terms " forest." Stumps of trees embedded in a foot 



or so of peat covering an old land surface are 

 frequent. No implements appear to have been 

 found, but it seems that the deposit is of the 



will be arranged for the repayment of the amount 

 borrowed. Newcomers will be given every assis- 

 tance possible, and experts will give all informa- 

 tion to them when they arrive. Skilled valuers 

 will estimate the worth of any farm a settler may found elsewhere on our coasts. 



wish to purchase, and will see that he is fairly 



same 



dealt with. After he has purchased he will be 

 visited by agricultural experts as occasion de- 

 mands, and will be giren all necessary informa- 

 tion. 



Since the 



Fairy Rings. 



phenomena presented 

 glossy rings of 



An explanation of the curious 



-dark 



by fairy 



rings 



dead 



grass surrounding a 

 patch — is offered by the work of Miss J. S. 



Bayliss {Journal of Economic Biology, vi., 



1911). The fairy ring is due to a fungus, gener- 

 ally Marasmius oreades, which is parasitic on the 



New Rose from Formosa. 

 Japanese have obtained po ession of the island 

 f Formosa their botanists have been very 

 energetic in exploring it. For the first time their 

 collectors have obtained access to the mountains. 

 Amongst the new plants there discovered is a 

 Roae of small compact habit belonging to the 



allied to the 



Cinnamonee, nearly 



group 



Himalavan R. Webbiana. 



It grows on Mount 



Report (1911) on field experiments in Stafford- roots of grass Thrse roots it kiUs> and? decom- 



shire and Shropshire and at the Harper Adams 



College contains the results of a comprehensive 



experiment carried out at various centres on the 



effects of different manures on the yield of hay. 



At Blurton, where the experiment has been in cretes a ° p ' oison into the soil> an( ^ as a con _ 



progress for 13 years, the value of applying com- 



posing them, sets free food materials which 

 stimulate the growth of the grass roots as yet 

 unattacked. Hence the ring of luxuriant grass. 

 The fungus, however, is self-destructive, for it ex- 



plete artificial manures has been amply demon- 

 strated. Thus, even in the dry season of last 



sequence, is unable to live in the same place for 

 three successive years. When this time is 

 reached the grass invades the soil in which the 



year the yield obtained from the plot dressed f UIlgus has succumbed, and, flourishing there, 

 with nitrate of soda (1 cwt.), basic slag (5 cwt.), forms a c i rcu i ar verdant pate h. 



and kainit (3 cwt. per acre) was equal to that 

 given by the plot manured with farmyard 

 manure (12 cwts. per acre). The cost of the 

 latter manure was 60s. per acre, whereas that of 

 the complete artificial manure was 29s. Id., 

 leaving an ample margin of profit in favour of the 

 artificials. 



Poultry Keeping.* —The third number of 

 the smallholder library deals in an inter, ting and 

 succinct manner with poultry from the small- 

 holder's point of view. The contributors are all 

 experts in the various branches of poultry-rear- 



smnnn- 



follow : 



those 



Importation of Cut Flowers in Russia. ^ k attend strict]v to business; breed the 



Although British growers have no direct interest ^ ral . purpose fowl in existence ; and your 



in the export of flowers to Russia, they are not ^^ ^ assured » This is ri . ht so f ar as it 



without an indirect interest, and will learn with 



surprise that the value of the Russian imports of 

 cut flowers reached over £30.000 in 1910. The 



mising market, and thus to provide an increased 

 chance for our own flowers in our own markets. 



indirect interest lies in this, that France and ^^ ^.^ ^^ the feader through all the 

 Italy, which are the chief sellers, are likely to ^ Qf the fowl . hatchingf both by natural 



divert more and more of their goods to this pro- ^ by artificial means . the care of the young 



chicks ; their treatment as juveniles ; and the best 

 methods by which to endeavour to render them 

 _ profitable as adults. We say " endeavour " ad- 



llift JWitf? m^g^'^MwZC" which is visedly, for, after a long experience under very 

 metallic lead cut in fine shreds about the thick- favourable conditions, we are exceedingly scepti- 

 ness of ordinary twine, is an excellent material 

 to use for stopping leaks in pipes. The lead 



Leaks 



IN PlP£S. 



According to a writer in 



*-r*A • ii j - i £ j- timate nrofit Over a score of breeds and varieties 



wood is caulked m by means of an ordinary timaie pium. vvw 



„u- i i i * % t *l . are named as being of value to the smallholder, 



chisel, and may be emploved when the water is are Ilclllieu *» c fc 



J r J an d we are glad to see that the author has a de- 



servedly good opinion of the table value of the 

 old English game fowl, an opinion which we can 



on or off. 



Plum Rust. — Experiments by Mr Brooks 

 (New Pfujtolo(/'(H, x., 1911) show that the heartily endorse. We 



secidial stags of the Plum rust (Puccinia Pruni) 

 is /Ecidium punctatum, which occurs in Anemone 

 coronaria. This secidial phase of the Plum rust 

 has now been recognised to be the same in 

 Russia, the United States, and in this country. 



Canadian Railways. 



25,400 miles in operatioi 

 4,200 miles of railway in 



Morrison at an elevation of 12,000 feet, and has 

 been described b\ Dr. Hayata under the name 

 of Rosa Morrisonensis. 



Carbon -Assimilation by Plants. — The 

 leaf of a plant lias been likened to a factory 

 engaged in elaborating complex substances from 

 the simple raw materials supplied to it. In the 

 case of the carbohydrates, the final product, 

 starch, and the simple raw materials, carbonic 

 acid and water, are known definitely, but there 

 is some uncertainty as to which of certain sugars 

 are formed as intermediate products of assimila- 

 tion. It is now some years since Brown and 

 Morris brought forward experimental evidence, 

 based on the study of Tropaeolum, to prove that 

 the first sugar to be synthesised by the leaf is 

 cane sugar. When the concentration of this 

 sugar exceeds a certain amount, it is trans- 

 formed into 6tarch, which is a more stable and 

 permanent reserve material than sucrose. These 

 conclusions have not escaped criticism, but 

 it is only recently that fresh experimental evi- 

 ► dence on the subject has been obtained by 

 Parkin, in England, and Strakosch, in 

 Austria. Parkin selected tLe Snowdrop for 

 his experiments, choosing it because it is one 

 of the few plants which do not elaborate starch 

 in their leaves. It is therefore a more simple 

 material for investigation than the Tropaeolum. 

 Parkin comes to the same conclusion as Brown 

 and Morris, namely, that cane sugar is the first 

 product formed. Subsequently, it is broken 

 down by an enzyme in the leaf into the more 

 simple sugars dextrose and laevulose, which, ac- 

 cording to the older views of Sachs and others, 

 are those first formed in the leaf. The older 

 cal on the score of profit. We ha\ s yet to see a view, however, has received some confirmation in 

 properly-drawn balance-sheet which shows a legi- tne work of g TRAK oscH, carried out with the 



leaves of the Sugar Beet. Using a somewhat 

 different method for determining the sugars to 

 that employed by the English workers, he 

 claims that dextrose is the first sugar to ap- 

 pear, part of it soon becoming transformed 

 into laevulose, and the two combining to form 

 cane sugar. Starch is only formed when a 

 considerable quantity of cane susrar has 

 accumulated in the leaf sap. 

 sugar produced in the leaf of the Beet travels 

 in this form to the root to be stored : in 



goes, but to be successful witn any living oojects 

 it is essential that the breeder or grower should 

 be in full sympathy with his charges. The work 



many of the hens are comparatively poor layers, 

 but it will be found that the " Old English 

 Spangles " will compare very favourably with 

 many other breeds as egg producers ; their eggs 

 are very round, and consequently of great indi- 

 vidual Value. Besides the domestic fowl, this 



sugar 

 The cane 



the Tropaeolum, Brown and Morris considered 

 In 1911 there were work deals with seV eral kinds of ducks, including that cane gugar is not translocated as such, but 



and no few r er than 

 of construction 



w est of Lake Superior. Canada has borrowed in 

 London for railroad making more than 72 mil- 

 lions sterling in the last seven years. Railway 

 building on this scale in Western Canada has been 



those wonderful layers, the Indian Runners, 

 geese, turkeys and the pretty guinea-fowls. Of 

 the last-named it is claimed that one fowl is 

 capable of keeping an acre of Potatos clear of 

 beetles and wire-worms, and that the fowls will 



mponents — dextrose 

 and laevulose. A similar conclusion is reached 

 by a study of the Beet in the second year of 

 growth. The cane sugar stored up in the root is 

 translocated to the growing parts as a mixture 



not damage the crops. The diseases of poultry of dextrose an d laevulose, which are recombmed 



maae possible by the policy of the Provincial ^ e dealt with ^ an intelligent manner. The on reaching the ir destination. The evidence at 



governments in guaranteeing the interest on ap- . . - clear and distinct, and the illustrations present seems to favour the retention of the 



Proved lines serving settled terTitorv, and where F F - - - «- - ■ * A 



production provides adequate freight for new !!! 

 lines. . . 



good 



Pearson 



view expressed by Brown and Morris ; but ii 

 is evident that the problem is not finally solved. 



