196 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
a great Empire like ours will, it is hoped, at length, spare no pains or money to 
train its women to be helpful and useful in farms and gardens. Thereby alone, 
when the war is ended, can we hope to form happy and prosperous settlements for 
the ex-soldiers who, it is suggested, will have homesteads both in England and in 
our Dominions. Mrs. Wilkins shows in a masterly way the distinctive branches 
of these two professions which are held by (1) educated women and (2) village 
women, for it is most important that the two should be considered in their re- 
spective departments. If the servant class or village girl is encouraged to become 
a gardener we shall be steering toward great future difficulties, whereas if she is 
well trained to work on a farm she will be preparing for her future life-work of 
becoming the useful helpmate of the small farmer or grower. It is for this that 
the following sentence from Mr. De Vuyst's " L'Enseignement agricole " is worth 
recalling. He says : " Le soin du menage, la culture des plantes, les soins a 
donner auxpetits animauxetc.sont les occupations naturelles de toutes les jeunes 
filles. L'education moderne les en a detournees. L'education future les y 
ramenera." Let us hope that ere long we shall have ample educational openings 
for them, and that never again will it be possible for an Agricultural Education 
Conference to report, as it has done in 1915, that, " broadly speaking, there is 
no definite instruction in agriculture for girls and women. The question has not 
been thought out from the woman's point of view." — W. 
Insecticide, Quassiin as a Contact. By W. B. Parker (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. 
Ent., Bull. 165, Dec. 31, 1914). — It has been generally supposed that quassia 
does not kill by contact, its insecticidal value being rather one of prevention 
than cure. 
In these experiments this popular belief is dispelled, for it is demonstrated 
that 6£ oz. of a 40 per cent, solution of quassiin in 100 gallons of water will 
prove nearly as effective as a similar solution of nicotine sulphate, while double 
the amount is slightly more effective. This equals the extract from 3 lb. of 
quassia chips. 
The killing power of the lesser strength on hop aphis (Phorodon humuli 
Schrank) and prune aphis (Hyalopterus pruni Fab.) was 93*02 per cent., against 
96 9 per cent, for nicotine, while the greater strength of solution killed 99- 2 per 
cent. 
The addition of whale-oil soap assisted the spreading action and increased 
the mortality slightly. 
Suggested formula : Quassia chips 3 lb., whale-oil soap 3 lb., to 100 gallons 
water. — C. P. C. 
Iris Bakeriana melaina. By W. R. Dykes (Gard. Chron. March 18, 1916, 
P- 155 ; with fig.). — Evidence that this form is of hybrid origin, the parents being 
I. reticulata and /. Bakeriana. — E. A . B. 
Iris Species collected by Mr. Farrer in Chinese Tibet. By W. R. Dykes [Gard. 
Chron. April 8, 1916, p. 194 ; with 3 figs.). — /. ensata and a variety with purple 
flowers, v. tibetica, I. tenuifolia, I. Potaninii, I. Tigridia, I. Bungei, and /. 
goniocarpa. — E. A. B. 
Kelps, The Economic Value of Pacific Coast. By John S. Burd (U.S.A. 
Exp. Stn., Berkeley, California, Bull. 248, Feb. 1915 ; tabs.).— Results presented 
in this paper furnish the following general conclusions : — 
1 . The giant kelps contain potassium, iodine, and nitrogen in amounts which 
will possibly justify commercial recovery. 
2. Estimates of potash yields based on analyses of leaves and stems without 
taking account of the larger proportion of leaf to stem in the growing plant are 
likely to be higher than can be expected in the average run of commercial recovery. 
3. Exact determinations of the moisture content of the more common of 
the giant kelps show that weight for weight of fresh kelp Macrocystis pyrifera 
contains more of each important constituent than does Nereocystis Luetkeana. 
4. The efflorescence of potash salts when kelps are slowly dried cannot be 
utilized to advantage in the commercial preparation of potash if a large yield 
of high-grade salts is desired. 
5. No technological difficulties are involved in preparing high-grade potash 
salts and iodine from kelp, but exact costs of production can only be arrived 
at from data obtained on a large scale, as in actual factory practice. Apparently, 
however, extraordinary profits are not to be expected, owing to the limited value 
of the product and the large amount of manipulation involved in the various 
methods of recovery. 
