Finger- and-Toe Experiments. 



345 



the establishment of beet-sugar factories and refineries. 

 Hitherto, the relatively higher cost of labour has apparently 

 been an obstacle to rapid expansion, but the difficulty will 

 probably be solved by the introduction of labour-saving 

 machinery. 



The Chief of the Division of Chemistry, after an exhaustive 

 investigation of the whole subject, has evidently come to 

 the conclusion that the future development of the industry 

 is assured, for he says, in his report for 1897, "with an 

 annual consumption of 2,000,000 tons, and with a certainty 

 of rapid increase, the demand for sugar promises to be the 

 salvation of American agriculture." 



Experiments upon Finger and Toe in Turnips. 



The Durham College of Science has for some time past 

 conducted experiments, on behalf of the County Councils for 

 Northumberland, Durham, and Cumberland, into the best 

 methods of preventing finger and toe in turnips. Professor 

 W. Somerville reports that in 1896, as in former years, the 

 investigations were conducted in the garden attached to the 

 College. The plots were all duplicated, two plots being 

 practically equivalent to an area of T J 75 - acre. 



The soil used for inoculation was taken from a portion of 

 the garden which grew a diseased crop of turnips the previous 

 season. The diseased soil and the antiseptic substances were 

 mixed and applied in May, shortly before the sowing of the 

 turnip seed (Fosterton Hybrid). The results may be briefly 

 summarised as follows : — (1). An application of 50 lbs. 

 (equal to about 18 tons per acre) of diseased soil alone 

 infected the crop to the extent of producing 90 per cent, of 

 diseased turnips. (2). Slaked lime proved rather more 

 effective in curing the disease than quicklime [equivalent 

 quantities being used in each case), though both acted very 

 efficiently. (3). Lime from the magnesian limestone was 

 rather more effective than lime from the carboniferous forma- 

 tion. (4). One-year-old gas lime acted much more effectually 



