NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



517 



Encephalartos Hildebrandtii (Bot. Mag. tab. 8592, 8593). — East Africa. 

 Family Cycodaceae. Tribe Encephalarteae. Tree, to 20 ft. in height, 1 ft. in 

 diam. Leaves 9 ft. by 1 ft., pinnae 50-70. Male cone cylindric, 8-18 in. long, 

 brick-red ; female cone 2 ft. long and 7 in. thick, leather-yellow. Seeds vermilion, 

 1 1 in. long. — G. H. 



Eugenia uniflora {Bot. Mag. tab. 8599). — Tropical South America. Family 

 Myrtaceae. Shrub or small tree. Leaves opposite, ovate-elliptic, 2^ in. long. 

 Flowers solitary. Petals 4, white, \ in. long. Fruit sub-spherical, 1-1 £ in. diam. 

 deeply furrowed, red. — G. H. 



Fasciation. By M. A. Brannon {Bot. Gaz. vol. lviii. p. 518; 5 figs.). — This 

 paper describes a case where many fasciated sprouts arose from cut stems of 

 cottonwoods and willows in 1888. The flattening was particularly marked near 

 the outer extremities of the stems, and was accompanied by profuse branching 

 and forking of the fasciated specimen. Henslow found this to be characteristic 

 of the vascular bundles of the fasciated stems of herbs (" Fasciation and Allied 

 Phenomena," Jour. R. Hort. Soc. xxvi.). The present case appears to establish the 

 cause, namely, an excess of sap : " Root pressure of the cottonwood and willow 

 tree-stumps was in full operation during the early spring months after the trees 

 had been cut away." " Hus states that fasciation may be produced experiment- 

 ally in animals by providing like conditions ; for fasciation follows cutting the 

 stems of seedlings just above the cotyledons ; while roots will be fasciated if the 

 tops were amputated." 



Similarly indefinite inflorescences may be replaced by fasciated stems : 

 " About the time of the appearance of the first flowers, the plant is kept as dry as 

 possible. If now it be daily abundantly watered, occasionally with manure 

 water, numerous fasciations will make their appearance." One infers, therefore, 

 that a superabundance of water and nourishment can only be dealt with by 

 increasing the number of vascular bundles by repeated forking, and, in the case 

 of flowers, supernumerary petals &c. forming. — G. H. 



Feijoa Sellowiana (Rev. Hort. d'Alg., No. 12, Dec. 1913, p. 459). — Feijoa 

 Sellowiana is a native of the Andes, belongs to the Myrtle family, and has been 

 made by Dr. Vidal to fruit in Northern France. The fruit, which is known in 

 Brazil by the name of " Aracaz," did not fully ripen, but the experiment was tried 

 in a specially unfavourable summer, and it is considered that with time and as 

 the result of selection a valuable new fruit may be produced, suitable to European 

 conditions. — M. L. H. 



Field Mice. By D. E. Lantz (U.S. A . Dep. Agr., Bull. 670, p. 10 ; 7 figs.).— Field 

 mice may be caught in guillotine traps or poisoned with crushed oats dusted 

 over with a mixture of strychnine (1 oz.), sodium bicarbonate (1 oz.), and | oz, 

 saccharine. — S. E. W. 



Forest Planting in the Eastern United States. By C. R. Tillotson (U.S.A. Dep. 

 Agr., Bull. 153, January 28, 1915). — The 1910 census shows that the average farm 

 in the United States contains 138 acres, of which 75 are recorded as improved 

 and 63 as unimproved, the latter consisting of " woodland " and " all other 

 unimproved land." The woodland and other unimproved land covers the 

 enormous total area of 400,346,000 acres. Of this nearly 245,000,000 acres are 

 in the States east of Texas and the Rocky Mountains, about 175,000,000 acres 

 of which are in wood-lots. There remain about 70,000,000 acres of unforested 

 and unimproved land in this eastern portion of the country, most of it best suited 

 for growing timber. This area will be reduced by draining the swamp lands 

 potentially adapted to agricultural crops, but will be increased by the addition of 

 lands becoming worn out and unfit for growing field crops. 



Within the past five or ten years, however, forest planting has received a 

 stimulus through the activities of State forest officers, and also through the dis- 

 tribution by some of the States, either free or at cost, of forest-tree seedlings raised 

 in State nurseries. By 1910 Ohio had distributed more than 1,000,000 of such 

 seedlings, and in 1907 and 1908 Michigan distributed 396,000. Indiana and 

 Michigan have State demonstration areas where different species are planted 

 experimentally. 



As the old plantations are cut and the need is felt for new windbreaks to take 

 their place, trees will be planted for this purpose. White pine, Norway spruce, 

 and white spruce are likely to be the favourite species. There will be some 

 planting to provide shade for stock and to grow fence posts and other products 

 for use on the farm. Such plantations, however, will be restricted to the less 

 valuable land, and their extent will depend very largely on the success of those 



