NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



287 



Climatic conditions are important and must be reckoned with. 

 Absence of disease in the seed-producing roots is imperative. 



The best means of preserving the roots through the winter has 

 been found in the silo, or heap, in which layers of sand, slightly moist, 

 alternate with the beet. They emerge fresh and crisp in the spring. 



Testing the roots for sugar is most important, for this characteristic 

 varies tremendously. Seeds from the same plant, when grown in 

 different parts of the country, have varied as much as 7 per cent, 

 in sugar content while preserving the same external characteristics. 



It is essential that the seed, when every care has been taken in 

 its cultivation in all stages, should obtain for itself a good reputation 

 with the growers. The producer must therefore be a man known for 

 straightforward business ability, and. he must exercise the strictest 

 selection in his seed from year to year. At present the chief difficulties 

 in sugar-beet seed production are the scarcity of labour, the high 

 transportation rates in the country compared with Europe, and vested 

 interests in imported seed, but a good beginning has been made. 



0. H. L. 



Sugar Beets, Tuberculosis of. By E. F. Smith {U.S.A. Dept. 



Agr., Bur. PL Ind., Bull 213; February 1911; illustrations).— 

 Diseased beets from Colorado and Kansas showing small, water-soaked, 

 brownish areas teeming with bacteria, and usually with a small cavity 

 in the middle, were examined in 1910. The diseased portions exter- 

 nally showed small central radiating fissures, and within appeared 

 mucilaginous. An organism, now named Bacterium heticohm, was 

 isolated and infection experiments were carried out. Descriptions of 

 the Bacterium and of some of its cultural characteristics are given. 



F. J. C. 



Sugrar Cane in Antig-ua, Root Disease of. By H. A. Tempany 

 (West Indian Bull. vol. x., 4, p. 343; 1910). — In 1905 a circular 

 was sent to the majority of estate owners and managers in Antigua to 

 ascertain the position of the sugar industry with regard to cane disease. 

 The result may be summarized as follows : — 



(1) It appears that the root-disease of sugar-cane is prevalent in 

 all districts of Antigua. 



(2) Although the recognition of the disease is made by some 

 planters, it will have to be largely extended before it is effected by all. 



(3) The remedies of the disease appear to be fairly well-known, but 

 until the recognition of it attains a greater efficiency, it is doubtful 

 whether they will be applied as generally as is expedient. — C. H. L. 



Sweet Pea Colouring-, On the Inheritance of the Yellow 



Ting-e in. By M. G. Thoday and D. Thoday {Proc. Camh. Phil. 

 Soc. xvi. (1911), 1. pp. 71-84). — The authors have studied the behaviour 

 of the yellow tinge in sweet peas and conclude that " the deep yellow 

 tinge in deep ' Queen Alexandra,' deep salmon, and deep cream sweet 

 pea flowers appears to be dependent upon three coincident recessive 



