522 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Transportation, Some Problems of Plant Pathology in Reference to. By 
F. L. Stevens {Phytopathology, v. pp. 108-111, Apr. 1915). — The author gives 
a list of fungus attacks upon plants in relation to expectations of development 
during transportation. The matter is of considerable interest in view of legal 
liability for the condition of consignments of vegetables and fruit when they 
reach their destination. 
The troubles are grouped as follows : — 
A. Slowly developing diseases which under no conditions will increase 
appreciably within a few days. — Wheat smut, apple, pear, and peach scab, apple 
blotch, Ascochyta of pea, potato scab, Fusarium, and Phytophthora, tomato 
blossom-end rot, water-melon anthracnose. 
B. More or less rapidly developing diseases which can normally originate 
only at point of production. 
a. Rapid. — Monilia of peach, various bacterial soft rots (?), plum and cherry 
Monilia, Sclerotium Rolfsii, canteloupe rots, Sclerotinia Libertiana on lettuce, 
Botrytis on lettuce. 
b. Less rapid. — Apple bitter-rot, black-rot and pink-rot, grape black- rot, bean 
anthracnose, celery Septoria, egg-plant ascochytose. 
C. Rapidly developing diseases which can occur only on wounded plant 
parts. — Rhizopus on strawberry and sweet potato, Penicillium on grapes, apples, 
and oranges. Various bacterial rots, e.g. celery, asparagus, onion. 
D. Rapidly developing diseases which occur only on wilting or old products 
or under unsuitable conditions of temperature and humidity. — Bacterial or mould 
infections of many kinds, Rhizopus, Penicillium, bacteria, &c. — F. J. C. 
Tree-killing by Ringing and Arsenic (Qu. Agr. Jour. June 1916, pp. 303-4). — 
Ring the tree when dormant, low and somewhat into the wood, then pour on to 
the wound a mixture compounded of 1 lb. arsenious oxide, 3 lb. washing soda 
(or 2 lb. caustic soda), 4 gallons water, £ lb. whiting (the latter to mark the trees 
which have been treated). In mixing the arsenic with soda solution mix slowly 
to a paste, stirring all the time ; stand away from the fumes, as they are poison- 
ous. If washing soda is used, the solution should be boiled ; if caustic soda, it is 
self- boiling.— C. H. H. 
Ursinea cakilefolia (Bot. Mag. t. 8676). — South- West Africa. Nat. Ord. Com- 
positae, tribe Arctotideae. Herb, 1 foot high. Leaves, 2 -pinnatifid, 2 \ inches long, 
glaucous-green. Heads solitary, very long-stalked, about 2§ inches across. Ray- 
florets 20-25, orange above. Disk-florets blackish-purple. — G. H. 
Viburnum betulifolium (Bot. Mag. t. 8672). — Central China. Nat. Ord. Capri- 
foliaceae. Shrub, bushy, 4-6 feet high. Leaves ovate, 5 inches long. Corymbs 
7-rayed. Flowers white, crowded, £ inch across, in clusters f inch across. 
Fruit, scarlet berries, J inch across. — G. H. 
Vine Phylloxera and Tomato Plants (Qu. Agr. Jour, March 191 6, 
p. 130).— In Spain and Italy it is found that tomatos planted among vines 
help the vine to combat the Phylloxera on its roots, and render the vines stronger. 
Thousands of dead insects were found on the roots of the tomatos. It is thought 
the poisonous alkaloid solanine in the tomato roots destroys the insects which 
prey on the vine. — C. H. H. 
Violet Rove Beetle, The. By F. H. Chittenden, Sc.D. (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., 
Bull. 204, June 1915 ; 1 fig.). — In 1901 a small dark-coloured rove beetle, known 
to science as Apocellus sphaericollis Say, was reported as an enemy to violets and 
other succulent plants in the district of Columbia and from St. Louis, Mo. This 
insect is a common one in the United States and is generally considered a 
scavenger, feeding on humus and decaying vegetable matter. 
As a remedy, decaying leaves deposited in heaps about infested plants attract 
the beetles, after which the leaves are quickly dipped into hot water. — V. G. J. 
Vitis vulpina L., Senile Changes in Leaves of. By H. M. Benedict (U.S.A. 
Exp. Stn., Cornell, Mem. No. 7, June 1915, pp. 272-370; 7 figs.). — The 
importance of determining whether there is any real senile change in plants lies 
not only in the scientific need of such knowledge, but also in its direct bearing on 
the question regarding the effect of continuous vegetative propagation of seed- 
producing plants. The processes of division and growth require considerable 
expenditure of energy ; therefore, if the plant-cell is not entirely immune to senile 
