NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



113 



desired size a week or ten days earlier than plants in the open. The 

 experiments show that screening completely protects ' the seedlings 

 from maggot injury ; also that certain grades of cheesecloth will 

 prevent injury by flea-beetles. 



The experience of four years has shown that the use of cheesecloth 

 is practicable. In experiments in protecting plants the cost of screen- 

 ing ranged from six to twenty cents for each thousand. 



The screened plants are more tender than those not screened, but 

 experience has shown that by removing the cover a week or ten days 

 before transplanting the seedlings become sufficiently hardened, so that 

 there is very little difference in the growth of the sets in the field. 



A. A. K. 



Cacao and Hevea Canker. By T. Fetch {Circ. and Agric. Jour. 

 Roy. Bot. Gard. Ceylon, v. pp. 143-80; 1910). — A review of the ideas 

 as tO' the origin of the cankers of Hevea and cacao is given and the 

 conclusion arrived at that they are due to the fungus Phytophtliora 

 Faheri. Accounts of inoculation experiments are given together with 

 the life-history of the fungus. Spraying experiments were carried out, 

 and it is recommended that diseased Hevea bark should be cut out, 

 cacao debris should be destroyed by burning, and spraying with Bor- 

 deaux mixture of the bark of Hevea and the fruits of cacao just before 

 the monsoon rains set in should be carried out. — F. J. G. 



Cacti, Room Cultivation of. By Tittmann {Gartenflora, vol. 1x. 

 pt. xvi. pp. 345-50). — Cacti can be preserved in the house through the 

 winter by planting in a box three or four inches deep. It is pre- 

 ferably made of oak, provided with holes for drainage and with a pro- 

 jecting piece of wood at each corner. When the Cacti are planted, a 

 'rame of lighter wood is superposed and held in position by the corner 

 pieces. This frame slopes from back to front and is closed by a sheet 

 of glass. In this way the plants are protected from dust and from 

 udden changes of temperature. About the middle of April the cases 

 are taken out of doors and shaded. Air is admitted. In summer the 

 plants are carefully watered ; when their growing time is over they are 

 ardened off arid no more water is given and the cases are brought into 

 the house again for the winter. — S. E. W. 



Caladium pubescens {Bot. Mag. t. 8402). — Peru. Family, 

 Aroideae ; tribe, Colocasieae. Herb. Tuber globose. Leaves, 8-12 

 inches long, pubescent. Spathe 5-6 inches long, velvety-pubescent, 

 pale green. Spadix, 3f-4 inches long, yellowish blue to milk-white 

 above. — G. H. 



Medullary Spots, A Contribution to the Life-History of some 



Cambium Miners, By J. G. Grossenbacher {U.S.A. Exf. Sin., 

 Tech. Bull. 15; Nov. 1910; 5 plates). — During investigations of a 

 fungus which causes a blight of Ribes vulgare, dark-brown streaks w^ere 

 frequently observed in living young canes during late summer. 



VOL. XXXVIII. I 



