078 JOURNAL OK TllK KOYAL HOKTICULTUKAL SOC'IMTT. 



Ustilag-ineae, Life History of. By F. Kawitscher {Zcit^chr. j. 



Botanik, Bd. iv. Heft 10; 1912). — The writer, from his careful investi- 

 gation of the structure and development of the spores in various 

 species of Ustilago, has succeeded in clearing up several points in the 

 life-history of this genus of Smut Fungi. He confirms the state- 

 ments of Dangeard and Lutman that in the spore development of the 

 Smuts a fusion of two pairs of nuclei takes place. The mycelium of 

 Ustilago Carho (parasitic on oats) shows a pair of nuclei in each cell; 

 the young spore also has two nuclei, and owing to the fusion of 

 these the mature spore becomes uninucleate. In the Maize Smut 

 {U. Maydis) the secondary spores (sporidia) do not undergo copulation, 

 and the mycelial cells have but one nucleus; but just before spore 

 formation these cells become binucleate by the breaking down of a 

 wall between two neighbouring cells, hence the young spore has two 

 nuclei. These cytological details are, of course, of theoretical rather 

 than practical interest, but the writer has also investigated the mode 

 of infection of the host-plants by the germinating spores, and gives 

 a number of interesting new illustrations showing the mode of entrance 

 of l^he infecting germ-tubes. — F. G. 



Water-Cress, To Grow, in Tubs (Rev. Hon. Beige, p. 253; 



Aug. 1, 1911). — A method of growing water-cress in tubs for private 

 consumption is described, and is said to be perfectly successful. The 

 tub should be placed if possible in a shady place and filled with clean 

 water. A wicker sieve should be put tx) float on the water, and in it 

 several clumps of water-cress. A fortnight or three weeks afterwards 

 the tub is full of green stuff, and one may begin to gather some of the 

 young shoots. The water may, if preferred, be renewed from time 

 to time, but the great point is to keep the tub quite full. To help on 

 the growth of the plant it is well, every twenty days or so, to spread 

 on the surface of the water a mixture of 5 grammes ammonia sulphate 

 and 125 grammes iron sulphate to each 10 litres of water. Water-cress 

 may be gathered in this way all the year round. — M. L. H. 



Watsonia Meriana var. iridifolia. By A. J. Ewart {Jour. 



Dept. Agr., Victoria, x. p. 359; June 1912). — This beautiful plant is a 

 troublesome weed in some parts of Victoria. Animals eat it readily, 

 and it had been reputed poisonous, but experiments have failed to 

 demonstrate any poisonous properties. A description is given. — F. J. C. 



West Indies, Agricultural Education and Instruction in the 



(West Indian Bull. vol. xi. No. 4, p. 439; 1911). — This is carried 

 on in most of the Colonies far more thoroughly than at home, for in an 

 early part of this Bulletin Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer writes: Lastly, 

 but by no means least, an efficient system of rural education has been 

 organized for the negro peasantry. I have no hesitation in saying that 

 it is far in advance of anything which exists in the country where I am 

 writing. . . H. L. 



