578 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The preservative treatment of timber involves no heavy expenditures for 
apparatus, especially in connexion with the simpler methods of treatment. 
The kyanizing process consists merely in the immersion of the timber in an 
open wood or concrete tank containing a solution of mercuric chloride. Any of 
the other water-soluble salts could be applied in the same way* Creosotes and 
carbolineums can also be applied in this manner. 
Strong efforts should be made to store the product on well-drained ground, 
removed from the possible dangers of floods, high tides, and standing water. 
More attention should be given to the foundations of lumber piles in order 
to ensure freedom from decay and better ventilation beneath the stacks. In 
humid regions the stock should not be piled less than 18 to 24 inches from the 
ground. Wood blocking used in direct contact with wet ground should be 
protected by the application of creosote or other antiseptic oils or else replaced 
by concrete, brick, or other durable materials. Treated horizontal skid timbers 
would also be highly advantageous, for stock should never be piled in direct 
contact with diseased timber. — A. D. W. 
Tobacco, Mosaic Disease. By H. A. Allard (Jour. Agr. Res, x. pp. 615-631, 
Sept. 1 91 7 ; figs.). — The virus of mosaic disease may be transmitted by rubbing 
healthy after touching affected foliage, but washing the hands with soap and 
water removes the virus. It appears to travel from place to place in the plant 
independently of the veins. The chief agents in spreading it appear to be aphides, 
such as Myzus persicae and Macrosiphum tabaci, but M. lactucae, red spider, and 
white fly did not, apparently, carry it. The virus affects Nicotiana glauca, but 
does not produce marked symptoms upon that species. Tobacco may, however, 
be readily infected from inoculated plants of Nicotiana glauca. — F. J. C. 
Tomato Damping Off and Collar Rot. By G. T. Spinks (Ann. Rep. Agr. 
Res. Stn., Long Ashton, 1917). — The disease was found to be associated -with a 
species of Phytophthora, and to be controllable by sterilization of the soil. — F.J. C, 
Tomato Leaf-Spot Control. By F. J. Pritchard and W. B. Clark (U.S.A. 
Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., Cir. 4, June 1918, 4 pp.). — This blight of the tomato 
is a troublesome disease, causing loss of many million dollars in the Mississippi 
Valley and Atlantic States. The disease forms small circular spots with grey 
centres, and with dark-coloured margins. For control, Bordeaux mixture of 
4> 2» 3, 30 strength is suggested, and having a composition of copper sulphate, 
quicklime, resin, fish-oil soap, and water. — A. B. 
Tree-banding Material for the Control of the Gipsy-Moth, A New. |By 
A.F. Burgess and E.L. Griffin (Jour. Econ. Entom. x., pp. 131-135 ; Feb. 1917). — 
The formula given in this paper is based largely on an analysis of Raupenleim, 
which is a tree-banding material that has been successful against Gipsy-moth 
in the German forests. The instrument used for applying it direct on to the 
tree consists of a cylindrical container having a small rectangular orifice in one 
end. The banding material is forced from the container by a plunger operated 
by a kind of cantilever movement. The fingers of the operator's right hand 
pass through a part of the apparatus not unlike large garden scissors, by means 
of which the necessary pressure on the plunger is obtained. (An excellent plate 
shows the instrument in use, and it appears to be a great improvement on the 
usual method employed in this country.) The sample of tree-banding material 
which gave the best results consisted of : 
(1 ) A high boiling neutral coal-tar oil (density about 1-1 5 at 20 0 C). 
(2) A soft coal-tar pitch. 
(3) Rosin oil of the grade known in America as first-run " kidney oil." 
(4) Ordinary commercial quicklime. 
A stock mixture was made up by transferring a weighed quantity of coal- 
tar pitch to a ten gallon steam-jacketed kettle. This was heated until thin 
enough to run, when twice its weight of coal-tar neutral oil was stirred in. This 
will be referred to as " pitch-neutral oil mixture." The quicklime was slaked 
so as to make a dry powder and passed through a sieve having ten meshes to 
the inch. 
The tree-banding material may be mixed as follows : — 
5 lb. of the " pitch-neutral oil mixture," 16 lb. coal-tar neutral oil and 4 lb. 
slaked lime were weighed into the steam-jacketed kettle and a mechanical stirrer 
started. When the contents were of a uniform consistency 20 lb. of rosin oil 
was added, and ten minutes later 10 lb. more of the coal-tar neutral oil. Fifteen 
