Mr.  Douglas  A.  Gilchrist,  B.Sc. 
The  Council  of  the  Durham  College  of  Science,  Newoa.stle,  have 
appointed  Professor  Douglas  A.  Gilchri.st,  ’  B.Sc.,  of  the  Uni¬ 
versity  College,  Reading,  to  the  post  of  Professor  of  Agriculture 
in  the  Durham  College,  which  has  been  rendered  vacant  through 
the  appointment  of  Professor  Middleton  to  the  Chair  of  Agricul¬ 
ture  in  Cambridge  University.  There  were  thirteen  candidates 
for  the  post,  and  from  them  the  Council  drew  a  short  leet  of  four, 
all  of  whom  were  Scotsmen. 
Factorial  Appointment. 
Mr.  J.  J.  Simpson,  who  for  the  past  five  years  has  acted  as 
assi.stant  to  Mr.  John  Robertson,  the  respected  factor  on  the 
Mackenzie- Wharncliffe  Estates,  Newtyle,  has  just  been  appointed 
agent  to  Captain  Langdale,  Houghton  Hall,  Yorkshire.  Mr. 
Simpson,  who  is  the  son  of  Mr.  James  Simpson,  author  of  “The 
New  Forestry,”  and  many  other  standard  works,  is  well  fitted  for 
every  department  of  estate  work.  He  studied  forestry  under 
his  father  at  Wortley  Hall,  Yorks,  and  then  took  the  full  course 
in  agricultural  science  at  Aspatria  Agricultural  College,  after 
which  he  served  for  two  years  in  Dr.  Barty’s  office  at  Dunblane, 
his  next  position  being  at  Newtyle,  where  he  acquired  a  thorough 
practical  knowledge  of  the  management  of  large  arable  farms  and 
hill  grazings. 
Injured  Trees  at  Kew. 
In  the  House  of  Commons  on  Tuesday,  April  15,  Mr.  McLaren 
asked  the  First  Commissioner  of  Works  if  his  attention  had  been 
called  to  the  number  of  crippled,  stunted,  and  half-dead  coniferous 
trees  in  Kew  Gardens,  and  whether  he  would  suggest,  the 
desirability  of  replacing  them  by  young  stock;  and  further,  if  his 
attention  had  been  called  to  the  pollution  of  the  air  near  Kew 
by  the  smoke-producing  factories  at  Brentford,  and  the  injury 
done  to  evergreen  trees  and  shrubs  by  the  smoke-laden  air.  Mr. 
Akers-Douglas  said :  “  The  cultivation  of  coniferous  trees  is  not 
attended  with  success  in  the  northern  part  of  the  gardens,  owing 
to  the  smoke  of  Brentford,  but  it  is  already  carried  on  in  the 
southern  part  on  the  lines  suggested.  The  matter  referred  to  in 
the  second  part  of  the  question  is  receiving  most  careful  con¬ 
sideration.” 
Destruction  of  Prickly  Pear. 
Some  little  time  ago  the  Queensland  Government  carried  out 
some  experiments  in  order  to  determine  the  efficacy  of  certain 
methods  of  destroying  the  Prickly  Pear  (Opuntia).  For  the 
scene  of  their  operations  they  selected  Bunkers  Hill,  comprising 
145  acres,  was  covered  with  a  dense  and  very  high  growth  of 
Prickly  Pear.  Five  men  were  engaged,  and  the  work  carried 
out  thus  :  — The  men,  armed  with  special  matlocks,  and  protected 
with  leather  legging  to  the  thigh,  attacked  the  Cactus,  chop¬ 
ping  it  to  tlie  ground.  The  thickest  leaves  and  the  stem  were 
then  slashed  with  the  matlock,  and  the  stump  was  chopped  to 
shreds,  but  not  extracted.  Then  the  leaves  and  stump  were 
sprayed  well  with  a  solution  of  sodium  arsenic,  care  being  taken 
that  the  whole  of  the  surface  of  the  leaves  were  wetted,  the 
spraying  being  carried  out  with  knapsack  spray  pumps.  This 
was  the  whole  of  the  operation,  and  the  result  was  surprising. 
After  three  or  four  days  the  green,  succulent,  fleshy  leaves  wilted 
and  turned  brown,  finally  drying  up  and  cracking  under  foot 
like  dry  Pea  or  Bean  pods.  Not  only  are  the  leaves  destroyed, 
but  the  spray  has  so  permeated  the  stump  to  the  very  end  of 
its  long  roots  that  they  are  utterly  rotted  and  turned  into  a 
rich  humus.  Singularly  enough,  the  spraying  has  no  bad  effects 
upon  the  grass,  which,  on  the  contrary,  seems  to  derive 
additional  vigour  from  the  application.  The  whole  area  treated 
is  now  a  valuable  grazing  property,  covered  with  most  luxuriant 
grass,  intermixed  with  masses  of  beautiful  wild  flowers.  The 
preparation  of  the  sodium  arsenic  is  made  as  follows :  — 41b  of 
white  arsenic,  31b  washing  soda,  in  one  gallon  of  water,  boiled 
and  stirred  for  half  an  hour;  6oz  to  8oz  of  the  solution  were 
used  per  gallon  of  water  in  spraying. — (“  Journal  of  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Agriculture  of  Western  Australia.”) 
•  Variorum. 
Ripe  Tomatoes  cut  in  half  and  rubbed  on  will  remove  ink,, 
fruit,  and  vegetable  stains  from  the  fingers,  as  will  a  cut  Lemon. 
Greek  and  Roman  wines  were  perfumed  generally  by 
steeping  the  leaves  of  Roses  or  Violets  in  the  hqhor  until  it  had 
acquired  the  odour  of  the  flowers.  *  *  After  an  elaborate 
investigation,  covering  ten  years  of  time.  Professor  Wilson  has 
calculated  the  sun’s  temperature  to  be  6,200deg  Cent. 
(ll,192deg  F.). 
The  Need  for  Tree  Planting. 
the  British  nation  pays  about  £26,000,000  annually  for  im¬ 
ported  timber,  Avhereas  parish  or  district  councils,  by  planting 
waste  lands  and  the  roadsides  under  their  conti'ol  could  do  good 
public  service,  and  reduce  their  local  taxation.  Several  com¬ 
munities  in  South  Germany  and  Austria,  by  judicious  manage¬ 
ment  of  their  woodlands,  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  munici¬ 
pality,  and  for  every  tree  felled  in  the  Bavarian  forests  another 
must  be  planted.  Why  do  our  councils  not  look  ahead  in  the 
matter  ?  Why  ?  Why  ? 
A  “Gardener’s”  Qualifications. 
A  correspondent  sends  us  the  following  cutting :  — What  are 
the  qualifications  of  a  gardener?  I  have  known  members  of  the 
profession  who  would  consider  it  derogatory  to.  be  called  upon  to 
do  anything  outside  the  practice  of  horticulture.  Such  is  evi¬ 
dently  not  the  view,  however,  of  the  liberally  endowed  gentleman 
who'  advertises  his  qualifications  in  a  gardening  contemporary  in 
the  following  terms  :  — “  Gardener  (Head  W’orking),  where  not  less 
than  one  is  kept.  Used  to  cows  and  Orchids,  like  place  where 
boots,  knives,  windows,  dogs,  and  pigs;  also,  few  sheep,  run 
errands,  sang  in  choir.  Church,  or  Chapel ;  can  use  the  gloves,  ride, 
and  drive,  do  rough  carpentering,  painting,  and  glazing;  good 
cricketer.” 
Planting  the  Sand  Dunes. 
The  benefits  derivable  from  planting  sandy  tracts  of  land 
with  Pine  trees  have  been  emphasised  in  parts  of  France,  and 
from  a  letter  to  an  American  contemporary  it  would  appear  that 
good  results  have  also  followed  the  planting  of  sand-dunes  in  the 
United  States.  The  writer  in  the  paper  referred  to  says:  — 
“  You  remember  the  attempt  made  of  planting  Pines  in  some  of 
the  dunes,  w’hen  on  your  last  visit  to  these  then  barren  plains? 
Well,  you  ought  to  see  them  now!  These  barren,  drifting  dunes 
are  now  one  beautiful  forest,  its  benefits  and  beauty  only  to  be 
appreciated  by  those  who  have  made  these  barren  lands  their 
home  and  seen  them  before  and  after  the  arrival  of  the  forest.” 
The  dunes  in  the  vicinity  from  which  he  writes  cover  a  stretch 
of  land  four  miles  wide,  and  some  of  them  are  over  200ft  high. 
The  forest  he  refers  to  covers  those  most  inland  or  so-called 
“  dead  ”  dunes,  but  work  in  all  stages  is  continuously  progressing 
towards  the  seashore.  In  1884  all  the  dunes  had  been  planted 
with  grass  (Ammophila.arundinaoea). 
Kiosks  for  Street  Flower  Sellers. 
The  recent  action  of  the  Chicago  municipal  authorities, 
backed  by  some  of  the  city’s  retail  florists,  in  suppressing  the 
street  flower  sellers,  is  calling  forth  considerable  discussion.  One 
writer  makes  the  substantial  suggestion  that  the  city  take  a  leaf 
out  of  the  book  of  Paris,  and  secure  a  design  of  artistic  value  for 
a  kiosk  in  which  the  legitimate  street  trades  could  be  carried  on 
with  proper  protection  from  the  weather  and  without  obstruction 
of  the  highways.  The  latter  suggestion,  says  “  Harper’s  Weekly,” 
is  not  at  all  a  bad  one  for  Chicago  or  for  the  New  York  Municipal 
Art  Commission  to  consider.  The  kiosk  system  has  worked  well 
in  Paris,  and  there  appears  to  be  no  valid  reason  why  it  should 
not  be  adopt.ed  in  this  country.  The  push-cart  men  and  the 
comer  stands  for  newspapers,  the  street  florist  and  the  frait 
vendor,  have  all  of  them  become  so  much  a  part  of  our  life  that 
they  may  be  said  to  be  institutional.  They  represent  an  industry 
in  which  sincere  and  honest  labour  is  involved,  and  any  effort 
looking  toward  their  control  should  be  rather  in  the  lines  of 
eliminating  their  potentialities  for  nuisance  while  conserving 
their  right  to  make  a  living  commensurate  to  their  ends  and  use¬ 
fulness  to  the  public,  than  in  the  direction  of  suppression.  To 
abolish  their  privileges  wholly  would  work  injustice  to  thousands 
whose  only  means  of  livelihood  they  are.  But  to  insist  upon  their 
being  so  housed  and  fixed  as  to  neither  offend  the  eye  nor  inter¬ 
fere  with  other  busy  wayfarers  is  commendable.  The  subject 
is  worthy  of  the  joint  consideration  of  the  municipal  authorities, 
legislative  and  art. 
