NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



watery mass. A specific bacillus has been isolated and cultivated on 

 various media and has caused the disease on healthy plants. It is 

 assigned the number 222.3332113 in chart of the Society of American 

 Bacteriologists. Various spraying experiments were carried out 

 with Bordeaux mixture (4 lb. bluest one, 6 lime, 50 gallons water 

 strength) with fairly satisfactory results. Nitrate of soda is not 

 suitable for cucumbers, as it renders them more susceptible to this 

 disease. — A. B. 



Custard Apple, The. By R. A. Davis {Agv. Jour. Cape G. H. 

 vol. vi. No. 2, pp. 372, 373, Aug. 1913 ; pL). — ^The tree succeeds in the 

 warmer districts of the Transvaal, Natal, and Cape Provinces. It 

 grows readily from seed, but cannot be depended upon to reproduce 

 itself true, therefore grafting is largely employed. Scions are inserted 

 in the stocks and the whole covered over with soil, much as the Western 

 Province farmer propagates his grape vines. Liquid cow manure 

 appears to be the best dressing, together with a complete fertilizer 

 applied biennially. The fruit is supposed to be one for which a taste 

 must be acquired, but Mr. Davis says " there is no need to acquire a 

 taste for it ; the taste is here, but sufficient of the fruit to gratify it 

 is absent." It is possible that the export of the fruit will develop at 

 a future date, since the custard apple can be sent with success from 

 South Africa to almost any part of the world. — A . A. K. 



Cypress, A New. By George Barron (Rev. Hort. de VAlg. Aug. 

 1913, p. 309). — A new Cypress belonging to the group Cupressus 

 sempervirens has been observed in Tunis. This variety, to which 

 the name C. sempervirens numidica has been given, has proved in the 

 mountains of Central Tunis to be very drought-resisting, and to be 

 proof against fire and native depredations. It is concluded that in 

 it Tunis possesses both an interesting and a useful conifer. The tree 

 is described as easily recognizable by its manner of growth. The 

 branches start vertically and then turn outwards and finish their 

 growth horizontally. In consequence it makes a much larger and 

 denser head than other varieties of Cypress. — M. L. H. 



Cytase, The Excretion of, by Penicillium pinophilum. By 



K. F. Kellerman {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., Circ. 118 ; March 

 » PP- 29-31; 2 figs.). — The biological activities of several 

 species of bacteria and moulds are usually considered a satisfactory 

 explanation of the destruction of the greater portion of the cellulose 

 annually deposited upon the soil, though the existence of true cellulose- 

 dissolving enzymes or cytases has not been so generally accepted. The 

 writer of this paper describes a method which has been developed, 

 which he considers adequate, for demonstrating that cytases produced 

 by aerobic fungi, slowly diffusible through agar, may exist even when 

 separated from the living organisms which produced them. — A. P. 



VOL, XL, L 



