56 
Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
■which  had  been  grown  from  seed  by  the  method 
of  water  culture.  These  trees  when  he  saw  them 
had  attained  a considerable  height  and  girth, 
yet  they  had  only  received  distilled  water  and 
certain  mineral  substances,  the  carbon  dioxide 
they  wanted  being  taken  by  themselves  from 
the  air.  That  was  a very  remarkable  thing,  and, 
seeing  that  these  substances  cost  so  little,  they 
would  naturally  be  inclined  to  think  that  there 
must  be  a large  profit  in  timber-producing,  and 
no  doubt  there  was,  if  a suitable  supply  of  plant 
food  could  be  got  readily,  and  the  plant  skilfully 
and  carefully  managed.  Dealing  next  with  the 
function  of  the  wood  in  the  tree,  the  lecturer  said 
there  were  two  main  purposes  to  be  accomplished, 
viz.,  the  upward  circulation  of  water,  and  the  car- 
rying of  mineral  matter.  The  duty  of  carrying  the 
water  and  the  mineral  matter  up  the  tree  devolved 
on  what  might  be  called  circulating  pipes  or  wood 
vessels,  and  circulating  cells  or  tracheids.  Wood, 
in  addition,  played  the  part  of  a skeleton,  and  this 
duty  devolved  upon  the  woody  fibres  or  tracheids, 
the  most  solid  constituents  of  timber.  Associated 
with  the  circulating  and  skeleton  apparatus  weie 
the  servant  cells  to  feed  the  wood  cells,  and  to 
aid  in  pumping  up  the  water  into  the  circulating 
apparatus.  Different  kinds  of  wood  had  (as  the 
lecturer  showed  by  means  of  large  diagrams  on 
the  wall)  these  structural  elements  differently  ar- 
ranged. The  ash,  elm,  oak,  and  chestnut  were 
stated  as  being  amongst  the  woods  which  had  the 
arger  sized  pipes  tor  circulation  purposes ; the 
beach,  hornbeam,  alder,  and  sycamore  had  medium 
sized  pipes  ; while  in  the  case  of  coniferous  trees 
like  firs,  pipes  were  entirely  absent,  the  work  of 
circulation  devolving  upon  the  cells  or  tracheids. 
Alluding  next  to  the  formation  of  wood,  the  lec- 
turer explained  how  the  cambium,  the  part  be- 
tween the  wood  itself  and  the  separable  bark, 
added  rings  of  wood  year  by  year.  On  the  acti- 
vity displayed  by  this  cambium  depended  the 
quality  of  wood  produced  per  annum.  Its  proper 
feeding  was  accordingly  of  great  importance,  and 
the  forester  should  see  to  it  that  an  adequate  sup- 
ply of  food  material  was  not  prevented  from 
reaching  it  by  the  presence  of  too  many  branches. 
When  too  many  branches  were  growing  on  a tree 
they  carried  off  the  food  that  ought  to  go  to  the 
cambium,  the  result  being  that  it  became  very 
slow  in  its  action,  and  wood  was  added  to  the 
main  and  important  part  of  the  tree  at  a much 
slower  rate  than  it  would  otherwise  be.  As  regards 
quality  of  wood,  it  was  pointed  out  that  this  was 
to  be  secured,  ap  a rule,  by  diminishing  the  amount 
of  tliin-walled  wood  in  certain  trees  and  by  in 
creasing  the  proportion  of  thick-walled  wood. 
Thin-walled  wood  was  mostly  of  spring  growth, 
and  the  thick-walled  of  autumn  growth  ; there- 
fore it  ought  to  be  the  business  of  the  forester, 
if  he  wanted  the  best  quality  of  wood,  to 
encourage  growth  in  the  autumn  rather  than  in 
the  spring.  The  lecture  was  effectively  illustrated 
by  paeans  of  several  large  wall  diagrams,  also 
models  and  specimens,  showing  the  construction 
O'f  some  of  the  most  important  timbers, 
GENERAL  ITEMS. 
The  Indian  Agriculturist,  speaking  of  the 
newly-appointed  Agricultural  Chemist  for  India, 
says  : — Dr.  Leather  is,  we  believe,  a young  man 
with  a reputation  still  to  make  as  an  agricul- 
tural chemist..  .Dr.  Leather  wast  we  believe,  only 
an  assistant  in  his  (Dr.  Yoelcker's)  laboratory  prior 
to  the  short  period  during  which  he  has  practised 
as  an  analyst  in  Lancashire.  In  the  selection 
of  so  inexperienced  an  officer  the  Secretary  of 
State  has  shown  great  want  of  discrimination, 
for  if  any  such  officer  was  required  at  all,  one 
was  wanted  who  could  speak  with  the  weight 
of  an  acquired  reputation. 
i In  his  reply  to  an  enquiry  from  the  Earl 
of  Wemyss  as  to  his  views  on  the  subject  of 
\ Technical  Education,  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  M.P., 
i suy6  : — In  the  case  of  industries  which  are  con- 
stantly being  modified  by  the  advance  of  science 
and  the  progress  of  invention,  where  success 
between  competing  centres  depends  upon  the 
discovery  of  new  improvements  and  their  rapid 
i adoption,  I think  that  technical  education  may 
j be  most  valuable.  So  also  in  a country  of  small 
farmers,  whose  methods  are  antiquated,  and  who 
| have  little  opportunity  of  making  themselves 
i acquainted  with  the  recent  developments  of  Agri- 
culture, I think  much  may  be  done  by  judicious 
instructions In  this  as  in  other  departments 
I of  practical  life,  each  case  must  be  considered 
on  its  merits,  not  simply  in  the  light  of  vague 
generalisations,  but  with  a close  scrutiny  of  the 
practical  mode  in  which  any  proposed  reform 
would  work. 
In  a paragraph  headed  “How  to  Plant  Ban. 
anas,”  in  the  Sugar  Journal  and  Tropical  Cul- 
tivator, we  read  : — Most  people  are  under  the 
impression  that  large  plants  are  preferable  for 
planting,  This  is  an  error,  it  is  using  large  plants 
that  causes  the  first  bunches  to  be  much  smaller 
than  the  others  that  grow'  from  the  same  plant. 
In  a clump  of  bananas  may  be  noticed  young 
suckers  that  throw  out  leaves  when  not  more  than 
9 in.  or  lft.  high,  others  that  grow  2 ft.  or  3 ft. 
before  there  is  any  sign  of  leaves.  The  latter  are 
always  good  plants,  the  founer  should  not  be  used 
as  plants,  neither  should  they  be  allowed  to  grow 
and  can  easily  be  removed  by  hand.  It  is  a com- 
mon sight  to  see  stems  6 ft  and  7 ft.  high  with  a 
few  leaves  cut  off  stuck  in  the  ground  which  for 
weeks  afterwards  with  their  withered  leaves  pre- 
sent a most  wretched  appearance,  and  if  they  sur- 
vive the  results  are  not  at  all  satisfactory.  If  this 
same  plant  instead  of  being  planted  whole  was  cut 
down  to  about  2ft.  6in.,  and  instead  of  being 
planted  straight  up  w\as  planted  at  an  angle  of  45 
degrees,  instead  of  the  first  crop  being  a poor 
solitary  bunch  (the  result  of  the  check  caused  by 
removal  and  transplanting)  there  would  be  at  least 
three  good  stems  with  the  fine  bunches  of  fruit. 
A sucker  if  planted  straight  continues  to  grow 
from  the  stem,  but  if  planted  at  an  angle  of  45  de- 
grees, the  old  stem  dies  and  the  new  plants  grow 
from  the  eyes. 
