352 JOUENAL OF THE EOYAL HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



external stimuli. It becomes negatively geotropic and ceases to be helio- 

 tropic. The gills, as they develop, become strongly positively geotropic 

 and can alter their direction of growth, so as to bring themselves into 

 vertical planes. 



Fruit-bodies grown in weak light are often abnormal and form 

 branches ; these spring from abnormal pilei. In striking contrast with 

 Lentinus are such agarics as the common mushroom. Growth in these 

 is normal in sunlit fields or dark cellars. The advantage for spore distri- 

 bution of a tree-fungus responding to the stimulus of light as well as that 

 of gravity is obvious. — A. D. C. 



Streptocarpus Davyi and S. cyaneus. By S. Moore (Jourri. Bot. 

 510, pp. 171-172; 6/1905). — Descriptions of two new species collected 

 by J. B. Davy in Swaziland, allied to S. Bolusi and S. Bexii 

 respectively. — G. S. B. 



Streptocarpus grandis. By N. E. Brown (Bot. Mag. tab. 8042). 

 Nat. ord. Gesneracece, tribe Cyrtandrece. Zululand. A stemless plant. 

 Leaf solitary, 2-3^ ft. long, 1-2| ft. broad. Flower-stems numerous, to 

 3^ ft. high. Flowers in pairs, light blue without, white within. — G. H. 



Sugar Beet Experiments. By C. D. Smith ( U.S.A. Exp. Stn. 

 Michigan, Bull. 215; 6/1904). — The sugar-content of the beets grown 

 was found to vary greatly, being frequently over 2 per cent., and in one 

 case 3 per cent., greater in one beet as compared with the one adjacent to 

 it. There is also danger in basing the valuation of beets on analyses 

 carried out some time after the lifting, owing to shrinkage, unless 

 careful note is taken of the weight immediately on lifting. Manures 

 affect the percentage of sugar very little ; this depends mainly upon the 

 season, the presence or absence of long-continued sunshine ; upon the soil, 

 sandy loams giving better results in some seasons, clays in others ; and 

 finally upon the seed. The seed, however, has not so far been selected so 

 as to give a heavy crop of beet with a good sugar-content varying little 

 from plant to plant — a seed that is desirable. Eotation of crops must be 

 resorted to. The best results were obtained by planting the rows twenty- 

 four to twenty-eight inches apart. Nitrogenous manures, and usually 

 those providing potash and phosphoric acid, produced a paying increase 

 in the yield. The leaf-blight can be kept in check by spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture ; but there seems to be room for improvement in the 

 machinery available for spraying. — F. J. C. 



Sugar Beet, Influence of Environment on Composition of, 

 1903. By H. W. Wiley (U.S.A. Dep. Agr. Bur. Chem. Bull 95, 1905). — 

 Contiuuation of previous reports. Shows that the amount of sugar in the 

 canes increases as the latitude decreases : the greater the light, the greater the 

 quantity of sugar developed. Light is more important than clear sunshine, 

 since the radiations of the sun, which are most active in stimulating the 

 cellular activity of plants, seem to suffer no marked diminution of power 

 in passing through strata of aqueous vapour. The data for 1903 are 

 otherwise less decisive and complete than in previous years. — F. A. W. 



