NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



149 



means of the inflorescence. Leaves, 3-4| inches long. Corolla, white, 

 fragrant, |-1 inch long. — G. H. 



Land Settlement Scheme in St. Vincent, An Account of the 

 Working" of the. By W. N. Sands {West Indian Bull. vol. xi. 

 No. 3, 1911). — This scheme arose from the sitting of a Eoyal Com- 

 mission in 1897, which reported that owing to Crown lands in St. Vin- 

 cent being unsuitable, it might be necessary to expropriate certain 

 lands round the sea-ooast, and settle proprietary cultivators on them, 

 the cost to be borne by the Imperial Government. 



This unsatisfactory state of affairs was intensified by a disastrous 

 hurricane in September 1898. 



In 1899 several estates were acquired and split up into small 

 holdings averaging 5 acres each. 



A grant-in-aid of £15,000 was made, and the actual cost of acquisi- 

 tion was £14,706. 



Difficulties and dissatisfaction at the outset were finally overcome, 

 and financially the scheme has been a success ; only a few of the 

 holdings had to be forfeited for want of care and attention. 



The Agricultural Department distributed free of cost many 

 thousands of useful plants and seeds. To complete the scheme it 

 would be well to start co-operative disposal of the produce, and also 

 credit banks on the Eaiffeisen system. 



The principal crops grown were cotton, arrowroot, cassava, cacao, 

 Indian corn, sugar-cane, plantains, bananas, &c. — C. H. L. 



Lands (Alluvial) of the Lower Mississippi Valley and theip 

 Drainagre. By A. E. Morgan {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Ofj. Exp. Stns., 

 Ann. Rept. 1908 ; 6 figs.). — Ten to fifteen milHon acres of fertile and 

 easily tilled soils are awaiting drainage. Before the construction of 

 levees nearly all the streams in the alluvial regions were subject to 

 frequent overflows, and on the bottom lands along the Arkansas 

 Eiver the writer has seen an inch of alluvium deposited over the 

 surface of the inundated land as the result of a single overflow of a 

 few weeks' duration. During the last fifty years there has been 

 great progress in levee construction, and there is now an efficient 

 system extending almost the entire distance from near the south line 

 of Missouri to the Gulf. The larger part of the land which can be 

 cultivated without drainage is now in use, and it is estimated that 

 during the next few years fifty or a hundred million dollars will be 

 spent on drainage, as upon this, and protection from overflow, the 

 future agricultural development of the region is dependent. The 

 excavation of all but the smallest ditches is usually accomplished by 

 the floating steam dredge, and work which in olden times took months 

 to perform can now be accomplished in as many weeks. — A. P. 



Leaves of Laburnum, a Biometrical study of the. By Paul 



Vogler (St. Gallen) {Beih. Bot. Gent. Bd. 27, Abt. i. Heft 3, 

 pp. 391-437; with 12 figs.). — The author measured lengths, breadths 



