NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



38l 



formalin, corrosive sublimate, and hot water proved effective. The sterile seeds 

 were grown on an agar medium within large test tubes which were previously 

 sterilized, and then inoculated with a pure culture from a nodule. From these 

 experiments the authors conclude that bacteria producing nodules on the 

 roots of leguminous plants are of several different species which apparently 

 have no relation with each other ; also that a species may produce nodules on 

 one plant or on several plants, closely allied to the first plant. — A. B. 



Orchard, The Effects of Fertilizers in a Cultivated. By J. H. Godfrey 

 (U.S.A. Exp. Stn., New Hampshire, Bull. 168, Jan. 1914). — In the course of 

 the five years' experiments carried out by the author, it was shown that no 

 value, commensurate with the increase of cost, was given by the addition of 

 commercial fertilizers where constant tillage was practised. 



Where the orchard was under grass, the gains, however, were considerable. 



Incidentally the experiments greatly emphasize the value of cultivation, 

 as against letting orchards down to grass, the gains in average number of fruits 

 being 116 per cent., in weight 101 per cent. — C. P. C, 



Osmanthus Anon. (Garden, July 18, 1914, p. 365). — The best known 

 species is 0. A qui folium, sometimes known as 0. A qui folium ilicifolius. This, the 

 Holly-leaved Osmanthus, is a native of Japan, whence it was introduced nearly 

 sixty years ago. It is known here as a bush 6 to 10 feet high, but travellers 

 in Japan mention plants between 20 and 30 feet in height. Its holly -like leaves 

 average about 2 inches in length, and as the bushes advance in height the upper 

 leaves lose their spiny character and the margins become entire, as in those of 

 the holly. It is also possible, as in the holly, to perpetuate the spineless form 

 by rooting cuttings from the upper part of a mature bush. Added to its use- 

 fulness as an evergreen, it is worth growing for the sake of its fragrant white 

 flowers, which appear in small clusters from the leaf axils between early October 

 and Christmas. 



O. rotundifolius is a low-growing compact shrub with dark green rounded 

 leaves ; O. purpureus with leaves of a dark purplish hue, and 0. variegatus with 

 silver variegated leaves. O. purpureus is the most useful and quite hardy. 

 0. Foriunei is a very vigorous shrub with large, dark, rather dull green oval leaves. 

 In the milder counties it is sometimes 12 feet in height, carries white fragrant 

 flowers during October and November, and is said to be a hybrid between 0. 

 A qui folium and 0. fragrans. 



0. fragrans, a Chinese species, recognized by its broadly ovate or oval leaves, 

 with spiny margins and its large white fragrant flowers, can be grown in Cornwall, 

 but is too tender for border cultivation in the neighbourhood of London. 



Within recent years two new species have been received from Western China. 

 0. armatus is described as growing upwards of 12 feet high in its native country. 

 The thick oblong leaves are sometimes 6 inches by 1^ inch, dark green, and 

 edged with spines ; the fragrant white flowers are borne in autumn. 0. Delavayi 

 found in Yunnan, is said to attain 6 feet in that country, although it grows slowly 

 here. It is distinct from other lands by having its fragrant white flowers 

 produced from the points of the branches as well as from the axils, in spring. 



H. R. D. 



Peas, Culinary, On the Genetics of " Rogues " among. By W. Bateson and 

 C. Pellew (Jour. Gen. v. July 1915, pp. 13-36; plates). — Rogue peas are 

 characterized by narrow leaves, stipules, and petals, leaves stiffer and harder than 

 the type, and narrower curved pods, while the seeds are said to be less sweet than 

 the types. They occur in many varieties, and their presence is not to be accounted 

 for either by accidental admixture or by crossing. Rogues occurring in stocks 

 of ' Early Giant ' and ' Duke of Albany ' were mainly investigated. The problem 

 of the reason and incidence of their occurrence is at present unsolved, but the 

 following facts have come out : — 



1. Thoroughly typical plants occasionally throw rogues and certain inter- 

 mediate forms. 



2. The rogues, of whatever origin, when fertile (as they usually are), have 

 offspring exclusively rogues. 



3. Intermediates (raised from types), showing combinations of type and rogue 

 characters, give mixed families of various compositions. 



4. Crosses between types and rogues, however made, have (with rare excep- 

 tions) always given rogues, though these in their juvenile condition are generally 

 type-like ; and these rogues have always given rogues. 



Strict and constant elimination of the rogues will reduce the number in a strain, 

 but at present there seems no way of completely eliminating them. — F. J. C. 

 vol. xli. 2 c 



