458 JOURNAL OT^ THE ROYAfj HORTTrTTLTTTRATi SOCTRTV. 



form a surface crust, lead to such an increase of evaporation from the 

 surface soil that more moisture is lost than gained by the rain unless 

 the surface is loosened again as soon as possible, and this on a large 

 scale means expense (p. 15). A fine surface mulch on summer-tilled 

 land, while ideal in preventing evaporation, packs so quickly during a 

 torrential rain that much of the water runs off and is lost, and where 

 such rains are to be expected, a rough, uneven, lumpy surface is 

 preferable, the treatment of the land so as to absorb all the rain that 

 falls being a matter of the greatest importance to the dry-farmer 

 (p. 16). In a region having an evaporation during the six summer 

 months of 45 inches and an annual rainfall of 18, it is possible by 

 cultivation to cut the evaporation f^'pm the soil to half the amount of 

 the rainfall and so save the remainder of the crop (p. 19). It is con- 

 sidered that there is no region in the United States where dry-farming 

 is successfully conducted with so low a rainfall as in Southern Wash- 

 ington and Northern Oregon, where wheat is being grown at a profit 

 by summer-fallowing methods on an annual rainfall of 10 inches. The 

 minimum annual rainfall necessary for a wheat crop that will return 

 more than the cost of production appears to be about 8.5 inches 

 (P- 25). 



A table is appended giving the elevation and average annual pre- 

 cipitation for a given number of years for some 1500 stations in the 

 Western States. P. ; 



Elaeag'nus argentea {Bot. Mag. tab. 8369).— North America. 

 Family Eheagnaceae. Shrub, 14 feet high, bark, scaly; leaves, 

 lanceolate, with a faint metallic sheen above and silvery scales below ;^ 

 flowers fascicled; corolla, pale yellow.— C/. H. 



Felicia petiolata {Bot. Mag. tab. 8370).— South Africa. Family 

 C ompo sitae ; tribe Asteroideae. ^ Under-shmb, more or less prostrate 

 leaves obovate, ^ to 1 inch long; peduncles solitary, 3 inches long^ 

 ray-florets about 12, rose-coloured; disk-florets, yellow.- — G. H. 



Flora, Adventitious, of Corfu. By B. Sprenger (Oesf^r. Gart 

 Zeit. vol. vi. pt. 1, pp. 1-5). — In Corfu seeds carried by birds or the 

 wind on to the trunks of the palms frequently germinate, covering the 

 stems with a luxuriant growth, eventually killing the palm. 



The following indigenous plants have been observed on the palms : 

 Polypodium vulgare, Adiantum, Ceterach, Pteris, Clematis Vitalba^, 

 Anemone coronaria, A. fulgens, A. hlanda, Baminculus fiahellatus, B 

 asiatica, Nigella damascena, Palaver Blioeas, P. nudicaule, P. apulum 

 Fumaria capreolata, Arahis vema, Matthiola incana, Clieiranthn: 

 CJieiri, C. maritima, G. Chia, Brassica iusvlaris, Moricandia arvensis 

 Lunaria sp., Alyssum sa.raiile, Lepidium graminifoliinn, CapseUi 

 grandiflora, Bcscda iymphaea. Chins creticus, C. incanus, C 

 monspeliensis, Viola odorata, T\ suaveolens, Silene pendula, S .■ ves^ 

 pertina, Saponaria calahrica, Liniun puhescens, Geranium lucidum, G 



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