2l6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
used for sending fruit to the factories. Loganberries when fully ripe make an 
excellent fruit juice if carefully sterilized. Loganberry makes excellent jam 
and jelly, alone or with one-third raspberry or apple added. 
It is stated that the cost of production, harvesting, and marketing may be 
estimated at from one-third to two-fifths of the total value of the crop, and 
this may be reckoned at from £200 to £300 an acre after the first year. The 
average profitable life of the loganberry is about fifteen years on suitable land 
and properly cultivated. — C. H. H. 
Manure from the Sea. By E. H. Jenkins and J. P. Street (U.S.A. Agr. 
Exp. Stn., Conn., Bull. 194, July 191 7; plates). — The high price of chemical 
manures during the war, and the scarcity of those ingredients which were needed 
in the manufacture of munitions, suggested the possibility of returning partially 
to the natural manures used by our forefathers. This bulletin gives tables 
showing the chemical content of seaweed as compared with horse and cow 
manure, and gives the result of experience as to the best manner and season 
for storing the weed. 
Seaweed is deficient in humus-forming material as compared with animal 
manure, and also in phosphoric acid, but it contains more potash and lime. 
The question is one of economics and also of soil sanitation. Seaweed, by 
the time it is gathered and carted, even on farms close to the sea, will probably , 
have cost a good deal in labour, if little or nothing in actual cost. Chemical 
manures, on the other hand, entail no labour, but cost an appreciable sum to 
buy, and there is the decided probability of a smaller crop also to take into 
account. 
It is possible on the other hand, that soils which have been continually 
dressed with chemical fertilizers might respond, temporarily at all events, to 
the action of more humus-forming manures. The value of marine mud as a 
dressing is also discussed. The analysis of nine samples taken from various 
places on the Connecticut shore gave results which suggest that while it would 
not pay to haul this mud far, for the sea-shore farms it is quite worth consider- 
ation. — M. L. H. 
Maple Seeds, Physiological Study of Maple Seeds. Contributions from the 
Hull Botanical Laboratory 260. By H. A. Jones (Bot. Gaz. vol. lxix. No. 2, 
Feb. 1920, pp. 127-152, with two figures). — The following summary of these 
investigations is given : 
River Maple. 
(1) Seeds lose their viability when the water content is reduced to 30-34 
per cent. 
(2) Temperature seems to play no part in determining the critical point 
of water loss. Higher temperatures only hasten the rate at which the point 
of desiccation is attained. 
(3) Respiratory activity in the desiccating seeds at 25°C. first decreases 
slightly, then rises to a maximum, then gradually falls to zero as desiccation 
progresses. 
(4) After a slight initial increase, catalase activity gradually decreases in 
the desiccating seeds. Catalase activity increases enormously during the early 
stages of germination. 
(5) Seeds of a river maple may be kept in a vigorous viable condition for a 
considerable period of time at low temperatures (o° C.) stored over water. 
(6) There is a gradual decrease in peroxidase activity accompanying 
desiccation. 
Sugar Maple. 
(1) Seeds after-ripen best at temperatures near 5 0 C, with a good supply 
of oxygen and moisture. 
(2) With after-ripening the seeds show a considerable increase in free-reducing 
sugars. 
(3) Catalase activity increases greatly with after-ripening and germination ; 
there is also a slight increase in peroxidase activity. 
(4) Both the dormant and after-ripened seeds have a reaction that is distinctly 
alkaline. This holds for the hypocotyl as well as for the entire embryo. 
(5) Fully after-ripened seeds will remain in this condition for a long time 
if kept moist at — 5 0 C. — R. J. L. 
Measuring Wire for laying out Orchards. By E. Wallis, " Pear-growing in 
Victoria" (Jour. Dep. Agr., Vict. Feb. 1920, p. 84). — Is made of No. 10 gauge 
galvanized wire of sufficient length to measure the longest row. An iron ring 
3 inches in diameter is fixed to each end of the wire. One ring is placed on a 
bar or stake driven into the ground, then the wire is stretched taut to its full 
