776 



JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTTrrLTURArj SOCIETY. 



tabulated form the results arrived at from some 2,802 tests of sub- 

 stances applied to cotton soils during a period of twenty-one years. 

 These experiments were concerned with the application of thirty-five 

 mineral and organic fertilizers and of seventy-one different combinations 

 of two or more of these substances, and there have been many different 

 proportions of the several ingredients in the combinations. The only 

 argument against the absolute conclusiveness of the results is that 

 many of the tests were made only for single years on the same soil, or 

 at most were continued for two or three years, but they w^ere carried 

 out on such a large number of soils over such a number of years that 

 they may be safely followed as a guide to the selection of fertilizers 

 for any given cotton soil in the absence of any more specific knowledge 

 of its individual wants. 



A summary of results shows that the chances of increased crops 

 are greater with mixed fertilizers than with a single one, and the larger 

 increase gives generally a larger profit. The increase in yield due to 

 mixtures of minerals applied approximates to the sum of the increase 

 due to the individual fertilizers. The increase of crop was as great 

 from a given quantity of fertilizer used upon a good soil as upon a less 

 productive soil. — M. L, H. 



Cotton Stalk-Borer, The. By A. C. Morgan {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., 

 Bur. Entom., Bull. 63; pt. vii., Feb. 9, 1907; 1 plate).— The cotton 

 stalk-borer is not a common pest. Dr. L. 0. Howard, in 1896, wrote 

 as follows : " There is but one borer in the stalks of cotton, and that is 

 the long-horned beetle known as Ataxia crypta Say. It is occasionally 

 mistaken for an enemy of the plant, but investigation has shown that 

 it lays its eggs upon, and its larvae bore into, only such stalks as have 

 been damaged by some other cause such as rust." 



The author of this bulletin has found that nearly all infested plants 

 show signs of previous injury, yet the comparatively fresh and healthy 

 condition of a few stalks seems to point to the probability of healthy 

 stalks being sometimes attacked. 



If the injury by this insect ever becomes serious, destroying in- 

 fested stalks early in the fall will reduce its numbers. — V. G. J. 



Crocus, The Fascination of the. By E. A. Bowles (Garden, 

 March 5 to April 30, 1910, pp. 123, 129, 140, 153, 166, 177, 213).— 

 The author claims five points in favour of the crocus : (1) the flowering 

 period extends from August to mid -April, over the dull season of 

 gardening; (2) the extensive range of colouring from which green only 

 is wanting; (3) fragrance, which is usually found as a delicate scent 

 resembling the primrose, but with an odour added, such as is found in 

 Iris uniguicularis . There is one malodorous species known as 

 C. graveolens ; (4) Crocuses are for the most part cheap ; and (5) 

 except for a few winter flowering species they are absolutely hardy. 



Spring Crocuses are taken as those beginning to flower with the New 

 Year, or during the four following months, but there is an exception in 

 C. CajTibcf^sedesii , from Majorca and Minorca, wliicli had been lost to 



