502 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



expansions. This is due not to disjunction of the carpels, as might be 

 supposed, but to what Dr. Masters termed enation, resulting from exj 

 cessive development of supplementary lobes or excrescences from 

 different organs. Owing to enation of the carpels, spurs, horns, &c.i 

 arise on the surface of the ovary during its development, as is frequently 

 seen in oranges. — F. A. W. i 



Moonligrht, Action of, on Colour of Flowers {Le Jard., 

 vol. xxiii. No. 541, p. 267; Sept. 5, 1909). — According to the Revu& 

 des Sciences, an interesting series of experiments has recently been ■ 

 made on tea roses, wdth the object of determining whether the rays of 

 the moon may not have some effect upon the complex and little under- 

 stood phenomena that govern the coloration of flowers. A number 

 of rose-trees on the point of flowering were divided into three lots, one! 

 being left as a control in the open border, another being kept in total! 

 darkness day and night, and a third shaded during the day and exposed 

 each night to the action of moonlight. At the end of a month the 

 plants of lot 2 were .etiolated, the few flowers upon the branches 

 having a sickly aspect, pale and ashen yellow in colour, with lighter 

 streaks. The flowers of lot 3 were most delicate in colouring and far 

 finer than those of the control plants. No conclusions are put forward, 

 but the experiments are still in progress. — F. A. W. 



Nevada, Reclamation of Desert Land in. By Carl S. 

 Scofield and Shober T. Eogers (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., 

 Bull. 157; August 1909). — The paper describes what has been done 

 at the Truckee Carson Experiment Farm in order to help settlers in 

 this part of the State. The rainfall is about 2*5 inches per annum. The 

 land is irrigated, and it consists of two distinct types, viz. a sandy 

 soil and the hard "clay flats." It is in natural condition, covered 

 mostly by Artemisia, Sarcohatus, and Chrysothanmus. Windbreaks 

 are very necessary. The first crops are usually grain, alfalfa, and 

 vegetables. The greatest difficulty is found with the hard clay land, 

 which bakes and cracks when it dries up after irrigation. Small plants 

 are killed by this process. Disc harrows, corrugated rollers, and steel- 

 toothed weeders are used to keep the surface in good condition. 



Good crops of beet with high sugar contents may be expected ; also 

 potatos, wheat, oats, and barley are recommended. 



Perhaps the most interesting part of the paper is that dealing withj 

 the " alkali " lands and the manner in which these are affected by' 

 irrigation. — G. F. S.-E. 



Nitrate, Movement of, in the Soil. By Eobert Stewart and 

 J. E. Greaves {U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Utah, Bull. 106; Dec. 1909).— 

 The average (three years') amounts of nitric nitrogen (per acre) in the 1 

 soil were found to be as follows: — ' 



Spring Period. — Indian corn, 142 lb.; potato land. 98 lb.; alfalfa 

 land, 27 lb. ; fallow land, 165 lb. per acre. 



