Annual Report for 1892 of the Consulting Botanist. 795 
in other plants have been investigated by the late Mr. Berkeley and 
others ; but the disease is still imperfectly known, and I propose to 
make it the subject of a paper for the Journal. In all cases I have 
urged the use of a dressing of the sulphates of potash and ammonia, 
as recommended by Mr. Whitehead (Journal, Vol. II., 3rd series, 
1891, p. 229), and which was found to be so efficient for the de- 
struction of eel-worms at Rothamsted. The minute size of the worms 
prevents the cultivator from seeing them in the soil and so discover- 
ing the cause of injury. As long as they remain there in any 
quantity they will be a source of danger to every crop, and as they 
are remarkably tenacious of life they can only be got rid of by the 
use of some dressing that has been found to destroy them. 
The samples of cocksfoot examined had an average germination 
of 86 per cent. This would have been much better had it not been 
for a few exceptional samples that grew only 50 per cent, or a little 
over. The seeds were generally pure, though one sample contained 
20 per cent, of other seeds, mostly of worthless grasses and weeds. 
Meadow fescue germinated very satisfactorily, the average being 93 
per cent., and was almost without exception free from other seeds. 
Tall fescue germinated 92 per cent , after excluding one sample which 
was very poor and badly ergoted ; otherwise these seeds were 
clean and good. Timothy was pure and free from admixture, and 
grew rather over 97 per cent. Meadow grasses germinated well, but 
the rough-stalked contained many impurities, one sample having 
half its bulk made up of chaff and the seeds of inferior grasses. 
More than a third of the samples of perennial rye-grass contained 
such a quantity of other seeds — chiefly Yorkshire fog and brome 
grass — as to deteriorate their value. Italian rye-grass was more 
pure and germinated well. Clovers wci’e satisfactory as regards 
germination, but they contained a gi’eater proportion of impurities 
than were met with in grass seeds. One half of all the clovers 
had a considerable quantity of weeds ; and a twelfth of the samples of 
red clover contained seeds of dodder, which were also present in 
Alsike. A sample of lucerne had a large quantity of dodder. 
Trefoil was throughout of high quality, and germinated well. The 
samples of yarrow were excellent. 
W. Carruthers. 
