NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



457 



Alkali Land, The Choice of Crops for. By Thomas H. Kearney 

 (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Farm. Bull. 446; May 1911). — One of the most 

 serious obstacles to agriculture in the arid portions of the United 

 States is the frequent presence in the soil of an excess of readily soluble 

 alkali salts, and it is estimated that one-tenth of the irrigated land in 

 the west contains an injurious quantity. Very few useful plants can 

 be depended upon to grow where more than 1*5 per cent, of the dry 

 weight of the soil consists of alkali salts, among these being members 

 of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), salt-grass (Distichlis spicata), 

 and sugar beets, the latter being able to grow in the presence of as 

 much as 2*5 per cent., though the roots thus produced are small, the 

 sugar content low, and the ash content of the juice high (p. 13). The 

 date palm is the only fruit tree which can be expected to yield fruit of 

 good quality when there is as much as 1*5 per cent, of alkali in the soil. 

 Where the content is less than 1 per cent, most of the ordinary farm 

 crops can be grown with varying degrees of success if the surface soil 

 is relatively free at the time of seeding, as, for instance, soon after 

 heavy rains (p. n). These percentages apply only to what are known 

 as white alkali salts (such as sodium sulphate, chloride, and bicar- 

 bonate), as little as '05 per cent, of black alkali (sodium carbonate) 

 being too much for good crop production with most species (p. 8). For 

 land that is being reclaimed by flooding the sorghums are considered 

 the most satisfactory crop to grow during the process (pp. 16, 20). 



A. P. 



Aloe africana, Mill. By H. Strauss (Gartenflora, vol. lxii. 

 pt. vii. pp. 137-138 ; 1 coloured plate). — Aloe africana closely re- 

 sembles A. pluridens, but differs from it by having yellow flowers 

 with green stripes. It is a native of south-east Cape Colony, and is 

 found on the coast. — S. E. W. 



Aloe Marlothii (Bot. Mag. tab. 8484).— South Africa. Family, 

 Liliaceae, tribe Aloineae. Shrub, succulent. Leaves if foot long. 

 Peduncle 3 feet high. Flowers secund, ih inch long, yellow outside, 

 striped with green. — G. H. 



Aloe Steudneri (Bot. Mag. tab. 8448). — Eritrea and Abyssinia. 

 Family Liliaceae, tribe Aloineae. Herb, succulent. Leaves in a 

 rosette a yard across, 2 feet long. Inflorescences, two from same 

 crown, 6-10 inches long. Perianth pieces 2 inches long ; three outer, 

 deep red ; three inner, rose-pink below, dark yellow at the tip. — G. H. 



Alpines. By A. C. Baumgartner (Oesir. Gart. Zeit. vol. vii. pt. xii. 

 pp. 441-455). — Part I., A Monograph of the Saxifrages. — S. E. W. 



Amelanehier oligoearpa (Bot. Mag. tab. 8499). — North 

 America. Family Rosaceae, tribe Pomeae. Shrub, usually dwarf, 

 rarely 5 feet high. Leaves oblong, i£-2 inches long. Flowers, 1-3 

 to a shoot. Petals white.— G. H. 



you xxxix. 2 h 



