l88 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



consider the nature of the toxic substance produced on heating is 

 governed to some extent by the condition of the organic matter 

 before the heating is done. — F. J. C. 



Soils, The Chemistry of Steam-heated. By O. Schreiner and 

 E. C. Lathrop (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. of Soils, Bull. 89 ; Nov. 1912).— 

 The authors find an increase of water-soluble substances during 

 steam-heating, all the soluble substances isolated from unheated 

 soils, except nucleic acid, being increased. Xanthine, hypoxanthine, 

 guanine, cytosine, and arginine are all produced by heating soil, 

 and are beneficial to plant growth ; at the same time the harmful 

 dihydroxystearic acid is increased when present in the unheated soil, 

 and produced when not present. Whether the resulting soil after 

 heating will produce good or bad crops the authors consider depends 

 upon the relative proportions of these useful and harmful substances. 

 This balance is influenced by cultural treatment, fertilizers, liming, 

 crop growth, or crop rotation, &c., as well as by steam-heating. 



F. J. C. 



Sorghum, Feterita, a New Variety of. By H. N. Vinall and 

 C. R. Ball {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., Circ. 122 ; April 1913 ; 

 PP- 25-32). — Feterita is a variety of sorghum introduced from the 

 Sudan. It is a durra, related to white durra and to milo, with slender 

 stems 4 to 7 feet high under varying conditions, erect heads, and 

 large, rather soft, white grains. Experiments show it to be a good 

 grain and foliage crop, about equal to milo in yield. It has acquired a 

 name as a drought-resister, but it is stated that there is no satisfactory 

 evidence that it is inherently more drought-resistant than other grain 

 sorghums. Feterita is at present a variable plant, and seed selection 

 and improvement will be necessary to obtain strains adapted to the 

 districts in which it is grown. — A. P. 



Sugar Beet Leaf-spot, The Control of the. By V. W. Pool 

 and M. B. McKay {U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., Circ. 121 ; April 

 1913 ; pp. 13-17) .—An account of the results thus far obtained from 

 investigations now in progress. The leaf-spot is caused by a fungus, 

 Cercospora heticola Sacc, which lives through the winter upon the old 

 beet tops of the preceding season. It is thought that the organism 

 is unable to survive a passage through the alimentary tract of cattle, 

 sheep, and pigs, but as it is impossible to prevent waste in feeding the 

 beet tops it is safer to make them into silage, the fungus being Idlled 

 in the process. — A. P. 



Sulphate of Ammonia, The Production of {Jour. Bd, Agr. 

 vol. XX. No. 10, pp. 925-926). — The quantity of sulpnate of 

 ammonia produced in the United Kingdom in 1912 was 388,308 

 tons — an increase of 3,332 tons on the production of 191 1. 



The United Kingdom was formerly the most important sulphate 



