NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



251 



The moral of which is that no farmer can afford to neglect the smallest 

 detail when he is dealing with any question of disease. 



To meet the present emergency in the potato business the hearty 

 co-operation of every potato-grower in Victoria, whether his plot is a 

 few yards square or his farm contains 100 acres of potato land, must 

 be secured. (1) Only clean seed should be used, and this must come 

 from districts which are known to be free from disease. In addition to 

 this, all seed must be cut and soaked in formalin (1 lb. to 30 gallons 

 of water for a period of two hours) or other antiseptic. (2) All potatos, 

 without any exception whatever, for the next two seasons should be 

 grown on new land. (3) In future years a more systematic rotation 

 of crops should be carried out. (4) Spraying. 



The Government of Victoria has determined that a fair share of 

 the cost of eradicating the disease will be defrayed by the Department. 

 By means of the assistance that can be rendered by the staff of the 

 Department it is highly probable that a farmer can be safely piloted 

 through a dangerous period with a minimum of expense. New bags 

 or cases should be used for seed potatos. Rejected seed should be placed 

 in a barrel and boiled before feeding to pigs. 



New ground and rotation with peas and clover are insisted on. 

 Then follow twenty -four resolutions of the Inter- State Conference of 

 Ministers of Agriculture regarding the transfer of potatos, fruits, 

 vegetables, and plants. — C. H. H. 



Legrumes, Native, in Nebraska and Kansas, Notes on the 

 Number and Distribution of. By J. A. Warren {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., 

 Bur. PI. hid., Circ. 31, June 1909). — Nature teaches that the growth of 

 grasses cannot be kept up without a corresponding growth of legumin- 

 ous plants. Thus it is that amongst wild plants a quarter to three- 

 quarters are leguminous, and on large areas of uncultivated land 

 (notably in Maryland) the leguminous plants are unobtrusively doing 

 their work in preparing the soil and opening the way to cultivated crops. 

 Hence the necessity of including legumes in crop rotations even on 

 rich lands. — C. H. L. 



Lemons, Italian, and their By-Products. By G. H. Powell 

 and E. M. Chace {U.S.A. Dep. Ag(r., Bur. PI. Ind., Bull. 160; Oct. 

 1909 ; parts 1 and 2 ; 6 plates, 5 figs.). — Part 1 describes the Italian lemon 

 industry, and some very interesting facts are given concerning the 

 methods of cultivation. The lemon is budded or grafted on the stock of 

 the bitter orange {Citrus Bigaradia), which grows wild in Sicily and in 

 the mountains of Calabria, and is now used universally as a stock on 

 account of its resistance to the gum disease, which devastated the groves 

 of Sicily thirty years ago, when the trees were propagated on lemon 

 stock. 



Part 2 deals with the by-products of the lemon, citrate of lime or 

 calcium citrate being the most important. This is an intermediate pro- 

 duct in the manufacture of citric acid. Citric acid is not made in 



