440 
Sup2)lement to the "Tropical Agriculturist.'' [Dec;. 1, 1900 
pressed by the charming old Maiior-hou>-e, so 
benutifiilly set among its sylvan siiiTouiidirig--, 
a fit type of tlie " homes of England." They 
invariably carried away, moreover, — is did all 
■who -visited the station, — ;igreeable recoUecdons 
of the goodness cf heart and the coiute>y of 
the great yet unassuming man wliose reniLiu-i 
were laid "to rest, amid every sign of sorrow 
Diul respect, at tlse Parish Church, Jlnpende i, 
on Tuesday, September 4. Of him it mighr, well 
have been written :—" Thou shall come to thy 
grave in a full age, like as a stock of corn c )metli 
in his season." 
MISS ORMEROD, ENTOMOLOGIST. 
We received by the last mail, from the 
author, presentation copies of tlie Manual of 
Injurious Insects and Methods of Prevention, and 
a paper on Flies Iniurious to Stock, by Miss 
Eleanor A. Ormerod, F,R., Met. Soc, &c., the 
Consulting Entomologist of the R )yal Agricultural 
Society of England and Honorary and Correspond- 
ing member of various otlier societies connected 
with Agriculture ,and Entomology. The work is 
accompanied by an excellent portrait of Miss 
Ormerod from a photograph by Messrs. Elliot and 
Fry. 
We learn from the agricultural press that Miss 
Ormerod has quite lately received the honorary 
degree ofL.L.D. from the Edinburgh University, 
and she is the first lady so honoure<l. The 
subject of our notice, who has a v/orld-wide 
fame as an Economic Entomologist, has for the 
past twenty-three years devoted her attention to 
the study of insect life injurious to agriculture. 
Daughter of Mr. George Ormerod of S idbury 
Park, Gloucestershire, she began the study of 
Entomology in 1853 from pure love of the science, 
and fifteen years later was awarded a silver medal 
by the Royal IIorticultur;!l Society for a remarkable 
coUecoion of drawings and models illustrative of 
insect pests and their depredations. 
MissOrmerod's help has always been available to 
anyone communicating with her either in England 
and from abroad, and that too free of all charge. 
It is estimated that on an average she received 
and replied to 1,500 letters every year. 
In addition to her scientific qualification?. Miss 
Ormerod reads freely Latin, French, German, Italian 
and Spanish, and with a dictionary at hand, 
also Ilussian, Dutch and Norwegian. Amongst 
her most appreciated scientific friends were Prof. 
Huxley, Prof. Westwood of Oxford and Dr. Riley 
of Washington, Miss Ormerod's residence is Tor- 
rington House, a beautiful place standing in a 
garden of about two acres, at St. Albans. 
In the Preface to the new edition of her work 
Miss Ormerod makes special mention of the good 
work done by her sister Miss G. E. Ormerod, 
as her "colleague and unfailing and skillful 
helper." And in concluding the Introduction to 
the book, she writes: "I fully trust it may 
often be found of service in lessening the losses 
which at present (and often solely for want 
af having a little plain information at hand) 
'^dd greatly- to ilw biudsu^ ]YllicU weigU tlowjji 
agricultural prosperity," and goes on to promiis 
" so long as it may he desired, and healch and power 
are granted mf, I tru<t to labour to the best of 
my ability in the cau-^e of Injurious Insect Preven- 
tion." AVe would de-<ire to record in the pages 
of this little magazine our own high appreciation 
of the admirable work done by this gifted lady, 
whose name is familiar enougii even in far-off 
Ceylon, and to add the wish that she may possess 
an abundance of "health and power" to add to 
the good wark she has carried on with so much 
ability. We hope to summarise in a future issue 
Mis3 Ormerod's excellent "introduction to En- 
tomology." — containing many useful hints — for the 
benefit of our readers. 
HINTS ON MANURING. 
The following useful information is summar 
rized from an article on Rational Manuring ni 
the Queensland Agricultural Journal : — 
Agricultural Chemistry has demonstrated that 
plant-life calls imperatively for three prime forms 
of food. These three are nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid. The produce of the land 
(whether grain, grass, fruits, milk, &c.) remove 
from the soil large quantities of nitrogen, potash 
and phosplioric acid. A portion of these food 
elements would be returned to the soil if the 
manure of cattle kept in the land is used, but yet 
a good deal would still be lost, and the pro- 
ductive capacity of the land can only be main- 
tained by the use of commercial fertilizers. 
The most popular materials for supplying 
nitrogen, and which are largely used in the prepar- 
ation of commercial fertilizers are nitrate of 
soda and sulphate of ammonia, in which the 
nitrogen is in a soluble and available form. 
Nitrate of soda is particularly adapted for top- 
dressing during the growing season, and is the 
quickest acting nitrogenous fertilizer. Leguminous 
crops are known ti) draw on the atmosphere for 
their nitrogen, and hence nitrogenous fertilizers 
are unnecessary for such crops. On the other hand 
by taking advantage of this property of legu- 
minous crops, we may obtain from them a portion 
(and sometimes even all) of the nitrogen required 
by other crops. If ploughed under, the legumes 
will not only furnish nitrogen to the soil, but also 
humu>^ which improves its physical condition. 
This is known as "green manuring." On sandy 
land and in a hot climate, it is not advisable to 
plough under a heavy growth of these plants 
while in a green condition. If the soil is very 
deficient in vegetable matter, the crop should be 
allo;ved to die upon the land and then be ploughed 
under in cool weather. If it is necessary, however, 
to plough under a green crop, a good dressing of 
lime, not less than 30 bushels per acre, should be 
applied to prevent injurious souring of the laud. 
Barnyard or stable manure is regarded by many 
farmers as "a complete fertiliser." Tiiis is cor- 
rect only so far as it contains all three of the 
fertilising ingredients, but these ingredients do 
not exist there in the proportions required by 
giosii crojs, Stable wo.mu'ij Qoutaia^ f-'^^fo?' 
