“ Fertilisers  and  Manures,''^  hy  A,  D.  Hall. 
423 
it  was  the  creeping  thistle  that  was  under  treatment,  for  when 
present  at  discussions  on  this  subject  at  Farmers’  Clubs  and 
elsewhere,  an  attentive  listener  may  sometimes  conclude  that 
the  difference  in  habit  of  growth  between  this  pest  and  other 
thistles  infesting  grass  land  is  not  duly  considered. 
Leaflet  No.  166,  published  by  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  so 
clearly  brings  out  this  difference  that  no  further  description  is 
here  necessary,  and  we  give  Professor  Foulkes’  remarks  without 
further  comment  : — 
The  conclusions  that  may  be  drawn  from  the  trials  are,  that  by  checking 
the  growth  of  the  thistle  above  ground  in  the  early  summer,  the  development 
of  the  underground  stem  is  hindered,  and  the  plant  cannot  spread  so  freely. 
The  second  growth  which  follows  is  not  so  strong,  and  the  seed-producing  stems 
are  not  so  luxuriant.  Second  cutting  in  July  further  weakens  the  vigour  of 
the  plant,  and  this  is  further  checked  by  the  third  cutting  in  the  first  year. 
The  same  treatment  in  the  second  season  leaves  a very  much  reduced  crop,  and 
by  the  time  of  the  third  cutting  there  is  very  little  left  to  deal  with,  either  in 
the  number  or  in  the  strength  of  the  thistle  plants. 
By  1909  the  treatment  on  plots  1 and  la  may  be  said  to  have  practically 
cleared  the  plots. 
Any  definite  time  of  cutting  cannot  be  laid  down,  as  varying  seasons  affect 
the  plant’s  growth,  but  cutting  is  best  done  when  plants  are  from  four  to  six 
inches  above  ground. 
Another  feature  noticed  was  that  the  herbage  on  the  plots  which  were  cut 
frequently  was  much  more  abundant  and  freely  grazed,  whereas  on  such  plots 
as  3,  3a,  and  4a,  there  was  practically  nothing  consumed  by  the  stock. 
The  results  of  the  trial  tended  to  prove  that  salt  and  sulphate  of  copper 
have  little,  if  any,  effect  upon  the  thistle. 
(Signed)  P.  Hedwoeth  Foulkes. 
Fertilisers  and  Manures. — A.  D.  Hall,  M.A.,  F.R.S. — Those 
of  our  readers  who  have  derived  both  pleasure  and  profit  from 
the  perusal  of  Mr.  Hall’s  instructive  book.  The  <S'otZ-— and  there 
must  be  many  such — will  take  up  with  pleasurable  anticipations 
the  companion  volume.  Fertilisers  and  Manures,^  from  the 
same  able  pen.  It  has  recently  been  published  and  forms  the 
second  of  a series  which  will  be  completed  by  a third  volume 
dealing  with  the  chemistry  of  the  growing  plant.  And  they 
will  not  be  disappointed  ; we  know  of  no  work  to  be  compared 
with  this  in  lucid  exposition  and  acute  appreciation  of  modern 
research  on  a difficult  subject.  Since  the  abandonment  of  the 
systems  of  manuring  based  on  the  crude  conceptions  of  Liebig, 
the  field  has  been  occupied  by  such  a mass  of  theories  and 
ideas  that  it  required  a writer  of  no  ordinary  ability  to  reduce 
the  chaos  to  order,  and  point  out  the  path  of  sanity  and  reason. 
And  this  is  what  the  Director  of  the  Lawes  Institute  has 
accomplished.  In  his  preface,  Mr.  Hall  very  rightly  declares 
^ Fertilisers  and  Manures.  A.  D.  Hall,  M.A.,  F.K.S.,  Director  of  the 
Rothamsted  Experimental  Station,  Foreign  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Agriculture  in  Sweden.  London  : John  Murray.  July,  1909.  5«.  net. 
pp.  384+x. 
