NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



675 



the want of manure at some length. The cost of carriage makes 

 the use of artificial manures impracticable, and there is not enough 

 feed to support more than a relatively small head of farm stock. 

 Eecourse must, therefore, be had to green manure, ashes, and the 

 powdered crust of sun-burnt earth which is to be found in the 

 neighbourhood of some of the oases. The writer considers that the 

 solution of the problem lies in the adoption of the best succession of 

 crops and of the crop most suitable for green manure, and in the intro- 

 duction of some crop suitable for fodder which may be grown outside 

 the limits of existing oases. Nothing is to be gained by breaking up 

 more land than can be quite thoroughly irrigated, and as at present 

 evaporation is the only way in which the salt-charged irrigation water 

 is afterwards got rid of there might be danger to existing gardens in 

 diminishing beyond a certain point the available surface for evapora- 

 tion. 



Col. Laperrine minutely describes native methods of farming, and 

 adds notes on the behaviour of most of the principal European 

 vegetables in his district. — M. L. H. 



Timber, Insect Damage to Standing", in the National Parks. 



By A. D. Hopkins {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. Entom., Circ. 143; 

 Jan. 1912). — Dead timber, both standing and fallen, is very commonly 

 attributed to fire and storms; but, as a matter of fact, investigation 

 shows it to be in most cases due to insect attacks. The Conifers, 

 which are the predominating trees in the Western States, are subject 

 to a high death-rate. The Pines, Spruces, Cedars, Firs, and Sequoias 

 have each at least one destructive enemy, usually a beetle ! 



It is obvious, therefore, that a more wide-spread knowledge of the 

 life-histories of the various forest insect pests, put to practical use, 

 will do much to control and prevent depredation by them. — V. G. J. 



Timber Rot caused by Lenzites sepiaria. By Perley Spauld- 



ing {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., Bull. 214; 1911).— The damage 

 inflicted on timber in America by Lenzites sepiaria is enormous. It 

 is often accompanied by other wood-rotting fungi. The length of 

 service of railway sleepers, telegraph posts, etc., if untreated is 

 diminished about one half. 



L. sepiaria chiefly attacks conifer wood although it has been re- 

 ported on the timber of some deciduous trees. 



This fungus is rarely found on living trees but can undoubtedly 

 penetrate felled wood when cut across the grain, or can gain access 

 to the deeper-seated tissues by means of seasonal cracks. 



The mycelium lives chiefly in the sap-wood, the heart-wood is 

 rarely attacked. 



The sporophores are rather small for a wood-rotting fungus. They 

 rarely project more than 2 inches. They are long narrow shelf -like 

 formations, frequently compound and closely clustered together. 



The gill are branching and rather irregular. Pores are occasionally 

 formed. The colour of the sporophores varies according to age, from 



