1 



1908.] Miscellaneous Notes. 695 



Journal (January, 1906, Vol. xii, p. 598). The first factory was opened at Notodden, 

 in Sweden, in 1905, and contained three furnaces, each of 700 horse-power. Accord- 

 ing to a despatch from Mr. F. E. Drummond Hay, Consul at Christiana, further works 

 are now under construction, which will have an equipment of 32 large electric furnaces, 

 each of 1,000 horse-power. The output from these works is expected to be 20,000^ 

 tons a year. The power station at the Svalgfos waterfall, near Notodden, is said to 

 be the largest of its kind in Europe, being able to develop 40,000 horse-power, and 

 has four turbines of 10,000 horse-power each, each driving its own generator. 



Use of Kainit against American Gooseberry Mildew Spores. — A suggestion has- 

 been made to the Board that kainit might be used to destroy the spores of the 

 American Gooseberry Mildew in the soil. Kainit is a well-known fungicide and is 

 used especially against fungi spreading in the soil. This substance will not destroy 

 the intact winter spores, but it will kill the germ-tubes when the spores germinate in 

 the spring. 



Four cwts. per acre is sufficient, except on very loose or sandy soil where 6 cwts. 

 might be applied. The kainit should be crushed, dredged on the land and pricked 

 in very lightly. This work should be completed not later than the end of February ; 

 in fact, it should be done before the gooseberry leaf buds begin to expand. 



Reclamation of Mud Flats. — A note appeared in this Journal, July, 1 907 (p. 247 ) y 

 as to the value of the Spartina grasses for the protection of muddy foreshores. In the 

 Gardeners' 1 Chronicle for 1 8th January, 1908, Dr. Otto'Stapf, of Kew Gardens, gives 

 some particulars, illustrated by maps, of the rapid extension in recent years of the 

 variety Spartina Townsendii on the coast of Sussex, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight. 

 It is suggested that this variety is a hybrid between S. stricta and S. alte? niflora, and 

 it appears to be wonderfully adapted to life on mud flats. The immediate effect of the 

 appearance of this grass on the mud flats of the south coast has been to relieve their 

 bareness and even to beautify them to some extent, and it has, no doubt, already 

 affected animal life. Physical changes must follow, which, if the grass continues to 

 flourish and spread, will react on the general conditions of the foreshore, resulting 

 probably in the solidification and raising of the mud banks ; but this process will take 

 time, and it is at present barely beyond the first stage. 



Tanning Industry in the United States. — Although the tanning industry is widely 

 distributed over the United States, the greater part of it is carried on in the States of 

 Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The consumption of tanbark in 

 1906 by 617 tanneries was 1,371,342 cords, valued at 12,774,071 dols. The principal 

 kinds of bark used were hemlock and oak, and of the total amount about two-thirds 

 was hemlock, whilst almost all the rest was oak, the quantity of chestnut and 

 unclassified barks being relatively unimportant. In addition, 658,777 barrels of 

 extract, valued at 8,713,322 dols., were consumed. Of the extract manufactured from 

 domestic woods and barks, chestnut extract formed the largest amount, being double 

 the combined quantities of that from oak and hemlock. Quebracho extract, which is 

 imported, constituted by far the largest amount of any one kind. 



The use of tanning extract is rapidly growing. In 1900 the amount was 64,043, 

 barrels ; by 1906 its consumption had increased until the total value was over two- 

 thirds of the value of the tanbark used. Extracts of four kinds are distinguished — 

 oak, hemlock, quebracho and palmetto. All are products of the forest, but palmetto 

 is obtained from the roots rather than from the bark or wood of a tree. An extract 

 made from both the bark and wood of the chestnut tree is coming into general use, 

 and over 257,000 barrels of this were consumed in 1906. {Board of Trade Journal \ 

 1 6th January, 1908.) 



Laburnum Poisoning.— A case has recently been brought to the notice of the 

 Board in which two horses were alleged to have been poisoned in North Wales by 

 eating laburnum seeds, which were found in their stomachs on post-mortem examina- 

 tion, although the quantity of seeds found was very j-mall. Other horses had been 

 kept in the same field for many years past without anything of the kind occurring 

 before. In this connection it may be stated that the leaves, pods, and seeds of the 



