NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



By series of many inoculations into healthy trees it has been found 

 that the grey fungus {Botrytis vulgaris) is capable of inducing one form 

 of gummosis, and that the brown-rot fungus [Pythiacystis citrophthora) 

 is capable of inducing the other. 



Concentrated Bordeaux mixture or Bordeaux paste (i lb. of blue- 

 stone, 2 lb. slaked lime to i J gallon of water) has given good results. 



V. G. J. 



Lilium Parryi. By A. Grove {Gard. Chron. March 28, 1914, p. 216 ; 

 fig.). — Valuable hints for the preparation of suitable soil for this 

 Lily.— A. B. 



Lime-Sulphur Injury, Investigation of. By V. 1. Safro {U.S.A. 

 Exp. Stn., Ohio, Research Bull. 2, July 1913 ; figs.). — Of the various 

 compounds found in lime-sulphur the polysulphides and to a less 

 extent calcium thiosulphate appear to be the most likely to cause 

 injury ; none of the other normal ingredients occurring in the lime- 

 sulphur, either before or after its application, were found to be harmful 

 to fruit or foliage. Rain following spraying tends to decrease or 

 prevent injury. The density of the spray does not appear to be an 

 index of its power of causing leaf or fruit injury, nor can the density 

 of the solution be taken as an indication of the concentration of its 

 various constituents. Many cases reported as due to lime-sulphur 

 injury are frequently the result of sun-burn. The experiments were 

 carried out on the foliage of beans, potatos, and fruit trees ; none appear 

 to have been carried out with such sensitive foHage as the gooseberry 

 appears to have. — F. J. C. 



Liver of Sulphur, Purchase and Use of (Jour. Bd. Agr. vol. 

 xxi. No. 3, pp. 236-241). — Liver of sulphur, as sold commercially, 

 is a mixture of several chemical compounds. Its value as a spraying 

 material depends upon its content of such substances as have a fungi- 

 cidal action, viz. sulphides (hydrosulphide, sulphide, and polysulphide). 

 It was to be expected that the sulphide content would vary according 

 to the method of preparation of the liver of sulphur by the manu- 

 facturers, and also according to the way in which the liver of sulphur 

 was stored subsequent to manufacture, as other compounds might be 

 expected to be formed on exposure to the air. 



In order to investigate these points a series of analyses was made 

 in the Government Laboratory. It was found in the case of some 

 sixteen samples purchased in different places that the sulphide content 

 varied from I9*83 per cent, to 37*94 per cent. 



With a view to obtaining information as to the rate at which liver 

 of sulphur undergoes decomposition on exposure to the air, ten samples 

 were exposed in open bottles, their sulphide content being ascertained 

 both before and after exposure. It was found that they rapidly lost 

 their sulphides, fifteen days sufficing in one instance for a sample 

 containing 28*56 per cent, sulphides to become useless. From the 



