gramme of 1906, a resumé of which was given in NATURE (vol. xxiii., p. 164). The competition is open to all

nationalities.

A REUTER telegram received at Copenhagen from Nome, Alaska, on September 3, announces that the Gjoa, the vessel of the Norwegian Polar Expedition, has arrived there, having completed the navigation of the North-West Passage in a westerly direction. The expedition sailed in May, 1903, in charge of Captain Amundsen, and letters recording observations made in the neighbourhood of the north magnetic pole were summarised in NATURE of November 16, 1905 (vol. xxiii., p. 59).

DURING the past few days the following earthquake shocks have been recorded in the daily papers :Jugust 29.-A violent earthquake was felt at Tacna and Arica, and was followed by sixteen further shocks. August 30.-Bodö, Norway. A violent earthquake shock was felt at midnight. August 31.-An earthquake shock lasting two seconds was felt at San Juan at 9.45 a.m. September 2.-Valparaiso. Slight earthquake shocks were again felt.

HERR O. WENTZKI, of Frankfurt a. M., has been awarded the 300-marks prize of the Berufsgenossenschaft der chemischen Industrie for the discovery of the best means of purifying hydrogen which contains arsenic. According to Wentzki's method, the impure gas is led up into a cylinder containing two parts of dry calcium chloride to one part of moist sand or other similarly indifferent substance, the bottom end of the cylinder being made of wire gauze of fine mesh; the capacity of the cylinder should be about one-third that of the hydrogen generator.

THE opening session of the International Congress on Methods of Testing was held in the Palais des Académies, Brussels, on September 3, under the presidency of Mr. F. Berger (Vienna). Five hundred members were present from eighteen different countries. Addresses of welcome were delivered by Count de Smet de Naeyer, the Belgian Prime Minister, and by Mr. H. Raemarckers, Secretary of the Department of Railways. An address was then given by Prof. F. Schüle (Zurich) in memory of the deLeased president, Ludwig von Tetmejer. A report on the work of the executive council since the last congress was presented by Mr. Berger, and interesting papers on the iron and steel industry of Belgium and on the Belgian cement industry were read by Baron E. de Laveleye and Mr. E. Camerman. The mornings of September 4, 5, and were devoted to the work of the sections and the afternoons to excursions. Excursions to the works of the Cockerill Company at Seraing and to Ostend have been arranged for September 7, 8, and 9. The congress is held under the patronage of the King of the Belgians, who on September 2 received the members of council.

THE agenda programme of the seventeenth annual general meeting of the Institution of Mining Engineers has just been issued. The meeting will take place at Hanley from September 12-14, and the following papers will be read or taken as read:-The Courrières explosion, by Messrs. W. N. Atkinson and A. M. Henshaw; gypsum, with special reference to the deposits of the Dove Valley, by Mr. T. Trafford Wynne. The following papers will be open for discussion .—Commercial possibilities of electric winding for main shafts and auxiliary werk, by Mr. W. C. Mountain; electrically driven air-compressors combined with the working of Ingersoll-Sergeant heading machines, and the subsequent working of the Busty Seam at Ousten Colliery,

by Mr. A. Thompson; practical problems of machine mining, by Mr. S. Mavor; the strength of brazed joints in steel wires, by Prof. H. Louis; by-product coke and Huessener by-product coke ovens, by Dr. J. A. Roelofsen; considerations on deep mining, by Mr. George Farmer; the education of mining engineers, by Prof. J. W. Gregory; the capacity current and its effect on leakage indications on three-phase electrical power service, by Mr. S. F. Walker; petroleum occurrences in the Orange River Colony, by Mr. A. R. Sawyer; and development of placer gold mining in the Klondike district, Canada, by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell.

ACCORDING to a recent report of the United States Consul at Brussels, a laboratory museum of electricity in that town will be opened to the public in October next. The museum has been built and equipped by Mr. R. Goldschmidt, of Brussels, whose object in presenting the museum is the development and extension of the use and application of electricity in Belgium by practical experimental instruction. The institution will contain all kinds of electrical models and appliances, which may be freely handled for study and experiment. Models and apparatus. will be conveniently placed at the disposal of the public upon separate tables, and may be connected with the electric supply at will. The museum is divided into four large rooms, one of which will be devoted to machines serving to produce phenomena due to magnetism and to electricity and chemical reaction; another room will be given up to the demonstration of electrical laws. A circular gallery round the room is designated as the second hall; here will be found machines of all sorts, lamps, bells, agricultural and dairy implements, conveniently exhibited, which may be worked by simply adjusting the electric appliances supplied to each table. There will also be free telegraph, wireless telegraph and telephone offices. The third hall is subdivided into reading-rooms, where the latest scientific publications will be displayed. In the fourth hall will be found all kinds of large motors, dynamos, &c., with which the public are at liberty to study and experiment.

THE ancient town of Nuremberg appears to be one of the most popular places for the annual meetings of many German scientific and technical societies; for example, mention may be made of the twenty-ninth Hauptversammlung des Vereins zur Wahrung der Interessen der chemischen Industrie Deutschlands, September 20-22; the third Hauptversammlung of the Verband konditionierender Apotheker für das deutsche Reich, September 1 and 2; the Verband deutscher Gewerbevereine, September 9-12; the seventeenth deutsche Mechanikertag, August 17 and 18.

OTHER meeting places and times fixed for this year's meetings of foreign societies, &c., include :-the international congress for cork manufacturers at Eisenach, September 1; the conference of pharmaceutical faculties (founded in 1900 for the furthering of pharmaceutical instruction in America) at Indianapolis, September 5; the eighth general meeting of the Internationaler Verein der Lederindustrie-chemiker in Frankfurt a. M., September 17-20; the International Tuberculosis Conference, Amsterdam, September 6-8; the Orzagos Iparegyesület (a national industrial society), Budapest, October 20-22 (a congress to consider questions connected with the acetylene industry); the fifth Hauptversammlung des deutschen Medizinalbeamtenvereins, Stuttgart, September 13; the Hauptversammlung des Verbandes selbständiger öffentlicher chemiker in Dessau, September 23-25; and the fourth delegates' meeting for the International Union for the Protection of Workmen's Interests, Geneva, September 26-29.

THE Mysore Government has, the Pioneer Mail reports, published a note on the destruction of rats in Mysore city. The system of rat destruction was given a fair trial in the city of Mysore from July, 1905, with the result that the city, which used to be infected with plague year after year, has been practically free during the year 1905-6, there being only seven cases and five deaths against 1244 and 995 respectively in the previous year. The total number of rats killed in the city since the commencement of the campaign, i.e. from July 4, 1905, up to July 13, 1906, was 23,741, of which about 12,000 are reported to be females. The following table shows the number of rats killed monthly in the city since January, 1906-January, 870; February, 492; March, 708; and April, 1050.

There is no instance in the Greenwich records of the shade temperature having previously exceeded 90° on four consecutive days at any period of the summer, and the only instances of 90° on three consecutive days are August 13-15, 1876, and August 16-18, 1893. The absolutely highest temperature ever registered at Greenwich is 97°. At the reporting station of the Meteorological Office, in St. James's Park, Westminster, the highest temperature attained was 91°, and that reading occurred on each of the three days August 31 and September 1 and 2; on September 3 the reading was 88°. Equally high temperatures occurred in other parts of England. At Nottingham the sheltered thermometer registered 93° on August 31 and September 1, 94° on September 2, and '90° on September 3. The absolutely highest temperature reported to the Meteorological Office was 95° at Colly Weston, in the Midlands. A gentle southerly wind prevailed over the whole country, and the sky throughout was peculiarly free from cloud, whilst the sun shone continuously for several days. Cooler weather set in on September 4, owing to the spreading over us of a north wind, and rain occurred in many parts of the country. In London rain set in very tardily at about 10 o'clock on Tuesday night, but it afterwards fell heavily. Very hot weather also occurred in parts of France and Germany.

BIRDS and their habits constitute the whole of the contents, so far as separate articles are concerned, of the Zoologist for August, Mr. G. Dalgleish discussing the wild duck and grebe, Mr. E. Selous the ruff, Messrs. Clark and Rodd the avifauna of Scilly, and Mr. G. W. Kerr that of Staines. In the "Notes" Mr. Aplin's account of the breeding of the black-necked grebe in this country will be read with interest.

THE Indian fresh-water polyp, according to Dr. Nelson Annandale (Mem. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. i., No. 16), is entitled to rank as a distinct species (Hydra orientalis). Although dioecious, sexual reproduction does not apparently play a very important part in its development; when this

takes place the individuals perish, several generations being completed in a year. The memoir on the Hydra forms a part of the results of a detailed study of the fresh-water fauna of India which is now being undertaken by Dr. Annandale, who has favoured us with copies of seven papers from the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal relating to this subject. The first part deals with a brackish-water sponge (Spongilla), while in the second the author finds himself in a position to determine definitely the systematic place of the remarkable fresh-water polyman discovered at Nagpur by the geologist Hislop, in whose honour it was named Hislopia by his friend Carter, Other interesting novelties are an aquatic cockroach belonging to a group hitherto known only from the Malay countries, and an aquatic weevil, which, so far at any rate as habits are concerned, is altogether unique.

IN the Times of August 30 is an excellent summary, by a correspondent, of the legislation and orders relating to Islands. After referring to the statutes affecting the country the protection of wild birds and their eggs in the British in general, and mentioning the fact that "sanctuaries," within which no bird may be killed at any season, have been established in five counties and two boroughs in England, the writer comments on the absence of any provision in the law for permitting birds and their eggs to be taken when required for scientific purposes. Despite many incongruities, if not absurdities-as, for instance, an enactment in Gloucestershire which practically amounts to protection for a certain species of owl during the time it is absent from the county and permission to kill it on arrival-it appears to be the opinion of the executive authorities that the statutes and orders for the protection of birds work, on the whole, satisfactorily. On the other hand, the enactments with regard to the taking of eggs are regarded as less satisfactory. In the first place, in the writer's opinion, such law "must almost of necessity work unequally, and weigh more heavily on the poor and uneducated than on well-to-do people, such as the dealers, who do most mischief." Secondly, the scheduling of the eggs of certain species (to the exclusion of others equally deserving of protection) is considered highly unsatisfactory, since it affords (on account of the difficulty of identification) a ready means of escaping conviction by these who know the ropes," while the unsophisticated stand a great chance of being condemned, even though they may really be innocent of the particular charge. As an alternative the writer suggests the passing of a short Art making birds and their eggs the property of the owners of the soil on which they are found, waste lands being for this purpose vested in local authorities.

THE Rev. Guy Halliday writes to report that on July 30 he found Goodyera repens in flower near Holt, in Norfolk. This is the most southerly limit recorded for this orchid. The plant, which was identified at Kew, has not hitherto, Mr. Halliday thinks, been found south of Market Weighton, in Yorkshire.

IN continuation of previous descriptions of new or rare pyrenomycetous fungi, Mr. C. E. Fairman notes some new species from western New York in vol. iv. of the Proceedings of the Rochester Academy of Science. A new species of Sporormia was found on pods of the locust, Robima pseudacacia, thus furnishing another species growing on vegetable matter, whereas most are saprophytic on dung Among new species of Amphisphæria one receives the specific name of aeruginosa, but it is not evident whether the green colour is due to this fungus or to a Chlorosplenium.

ONE of the most important collections of plants in recent ears was collected by Mr. E. H. Wilson, chiefly in western China, for Messrs. James Veitch and Sons. A few of the more striking new species are described in the Kew Bulletin, No. 5. Three species of Berberis, a new genus Hosiea under the order Icacineæ, and some roses are among the number. Sir George Watt contributes an interesting article on Burmese lacquer-ware and varnish, the basis of which is the oleo-resin, thit-si, of Melanorrhea usitata. Less generally known than the Pagan and Prome lacquer boxes and trays is the Mandalay moulded lacquer; the resin, thickened with ground rice husk, furnishes a material suitable for modelling figures and ornamentation in relief. Mr. C. H. Wright continues his diagnoses of new African plants, and Mr. J. H. Hellier identifies the Eben tree of Old Calabar as Pachylobus edulis.

In a forest survey the examination and measurement of selected plots provide data for working plans. A more detailed study of certain plots in a forest reserve on the island of Luzon with the object of investigating the origin of the different types of vegetation is being undertaken by Mr. W. H. Whitford, who has published the first part of his account in the Philippine Journal of Science, vol. i., No. 4.

Even here disturbances caused by human agency have to be taken into account. The natives clear the land for cultivation, but leave the clearings after a while, when they change to grass-land or revert to forest. Again, where the timber has been ruthlessly cut out or burnt, only brushwood mixed with trees of invading species is left. For such a type of vegetation the writer adopts the term parang, distinguishing the parang according to the dominant tree or trees.

A FORMULA giving the influence of frequency upon the self-inductance of coils is discussed by Mr. J. G. Coffin in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, xli., 34. The formula itself involves hyperbolic functions, but the author shows by means of curves that the results for large or small frequencies can be given with sufficient accuracy by simple approximations.

Is a short paper in the Verhandlungen of the German Physical Society, Prof. F. Kohlrausch suggests the use of the term "resistance capacity as applied to the space

between two electrodes to denote the resistance of that space when filled with a medium of unit electrical conductivity, and he shows how this quantity is related to the capacity of a condenser the dielectric of which occupies the space in question.

DR. JOSEPH NABL, of Vienna, contributes to the Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau an article written for the purpose of explaining in simple language the meaning of the second law of thermodynamics and its connection with the theory of probability (Boltzmann's minimum theorem), as well as the notion of entropy and the properties associated with it. The account is probably as good a one as eould be given in so limited a space for the instruction of non-mathematical readers.

In the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, xli., 32, Mr. Harvey N. Davis discusses the longitudinal vibrations of a rubbed string. Instead of basing the investigation on the use of Fourier's series as was done by Helmholtz in his well-known investigation of the vibrations of a violin string, Mr. Davis makes use of the graphic methods which have been commonly employed by mathematicians in discussing the impact of elastic beams. It appears both from theory and experiment that

the envelope of a string which is rubbed either transversely or longitudinally at an aliquot point 1/k of its length is not Helmholtz's parabola, but k chords inscribed in that parabola a result which strikes the reader as being, on the face of it, in accordance with common sense. Α number of other results, such as the verification of Krigar Menzel's law, have been discussed.

VOL. iii., No. 2, of Investigations of the Departments of Psychology and Education of the University of Colorado contains several interesting papers. Under the title "Proportion as the Quotient of Two Forms of One Equation," Mr. Heman Burr Leonard suggests certain new methods of teaching problems in proportion, and if these do not look quite so simple on paper as they really are, the article certainly confirms an important point, namely, the necessity of familiarising pupils with the use of formulae in solving problems, instead of the more restricted methods of "rule of three." Under the title "Relation of Course of Study to Higher Wages" Prof. John B. Phillips directs attention to the large number of important inventions that His have been made by men of little or no education. suggestion that invention" should form part of an educational curriculum is interesting, though one may perhaps ask whether teaching people to be original is not rather a contradiction of terms. Lastly, we have an account of the Colorado Mathematical Society, founded last year, from which it appears that several important points in the teaching of mathematics, such as over-elaboration of textbooks, athletic and other distractions, and what has sometimes been called " spoon feeding on the part of teachers, have been discussed.

MR. R. J. THOMPSON deals with the development of agriculture in Denmark in a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Ixix., 2. He attributes the prosperity of the country to three causes: land tenure, education, and cooperation. So far from rural depopula

tion taking place, the land is better farmed than it was forty years ago. The rate of wage is lower than in England, and thrift is a national characteristic. The bulk of the land is cultivated by the owners in small farms.

The

ABOUT forty years have elapsed since Gustav Theodor Fechner laid down his principle of association. Psychological Review has marked the occasion in a fitting way by devoting its May number to a paper by Prof. Lilien J. Martin on an experimental study of Fechner's principles of æsthetics. It is illustrated by a portrait of Fechner and a coloured reproduction illustrating a case of chromanæsthesia.

THE isolation and identification of radio-thorium from the sediments of Bad Kreuznach is described in detail by Messrs. Elster and Geitel in the Physikalische Zeitschrift (No. 13). The fact that radio-thorium is associated with iron in these sediments suggested a simple method of isolating radio-thorium from ordinary thorium salts. A nearly neutral solution of thorium chloride was mixed with a solution of ferrous bicarbonate, when it was found that the ferric hydroxide precipitated in the course of a few days was highly active. After removal of the iron, several milligrams of a thorium hydroxide were obtained having an activity twelve times that of the original thorium. These results, taken in conjunction with those already recorded (NATURE, vol. lxxiv., p. 385), leave little doubt that thorium owes its activity to radio-thorium.

DESPITE the many attempts which have been made to elucidate the nature of the blue substance formed by the action of iodine on starch paste, the question still remains

10

without a definite solution. Messrs. M. Padoa and B. Savarè in the Gazzetta (vol. xxxvi., p. 310) have attacked the problem in a new way by investigating the change in the electrical conductivity of a solution of iodine in potassium iodide caused by the addition of starch in known proportions. The conclusion is drawn from their experiments that the blue substance is an additive compound of iodine, starch, and potassium iodide (or hydrogen iodide) containing the two former constituents in the ratio 1: CH12O1 = 14. While this result supports the opinion of Mylius, enunciated some twenty years ago, it is directly opposed to the more recent view of Küster that the blue substance is not a definite substance, but is formed as a result of adsorption by the colloid starch. Küster's contention recently received striking support by the work of Biltz in 1904, who showed that basic lanthanum acetate, which resembles starch in its colloidal nature, also produces with iodine an intensely blue substance similar in all respects to that formed from starch; in this case there seems to be no evidence to consider the substance as definite chemical compound.

a

THE third edition of Prof. R. von Wettstein's "Leitfaden der Botanik für die oberen Klassen der Mittelschulen has just been published by Mr. F. Tempsky, Vienna. The book contains 236 pages, more than half of which (134) pages) are devoted to systematic botany, while the remaining sections deal with plant anatomy, organography, physiology and ecology, geography, and economic botany. There are three coloured plates and more than a thousand figures upon 205 blocks. Within its limits, the work makes an admirable survey of the realm of botany, being attractive in illustration, concise in description, and sound in sub

stance.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. RETURN OF HOLMES'S COMET (1906f).-The remarkable comet discovered by Mr. Holmes on November 2, 1892, has been re-discovered on this, its second, return by Dr. Max Wolf at the Königstuhl Observatory, Heidelberg. From the Kiel telegram announcing this fact we learn that on August 28, the date of the observation, the comet's position at 13h. 52-1m. (Königstuhl M.T.) was

R.A.=4h. 7m. 24s., dec. +42° 28'.

This position is between one-third and one-half the distance between 52 and 53 Persei, and crosses our meridian at about 5.30 a.m.

Comparing the position with that given by the ephemeris published by Dr. H. J. Zwiers in No. 4085 of the Astronomische Nachrichten, we find that small corrections of about +0.5m. in R.A. and +3'5 in declination need to be applied to the latter. A portion of this ephemeris is given hereunder :

Several observations of this comet are recorded in No. 4117 of the Astronomische Nachrichten. Prof. Kobole observing at Kiel on August 23, saw it as an undecided round spot of 2' diameter with a central condensation of magnitude 11.0. The magnitude of the whole was g From an observation, also made on August 23, Prof Hartwig described it as having a diameter of 1'5, a nucleus of magnitude 13.0, and a round shape, the total magnitude being 12.0.

A NEWLY-DISCOVERED PLANETARY NEBULA.-On examining one of the plates taken with the 10-inch Brashear lens of the Bruce photographic telescope, Prof. Barnard discovered the image of a fine planetary nebula which does not appear to be in the catalogues. The approximate position of the nebula, for 1855, is a=11h. 7m., 8=+15° 42'. In the same region there appear to be quite a number of spiral nebulæ and nebulous stars (Astronomische Nachrichten. No. 4112).

PLEA FOR AN INTERNATIONAL SOUTHERN TELESCOPE - In No. 182, vol. xlv., of the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Prof. E. C. Pickering advances a businesslike plea for the institution of a large international reflector in the southern hemisphere. He points out that under the existing conditions, it is hard to see how any great step may be made in the advance of astronomy, Fur thinks that if a reflector of about 7 feet aperture and 44 feet focal length were erected in the best possible atansphere to be found in the southern hemisphere, advances of immense importance might accrue. The cost h estimates at something less than 500,000 dollars (rathe more than 100,000l.), and he suggests that such a scheme would be an eminently suitable one by which to com memorate the Franklin bi-centenary.

THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL
SCIENCE.

THREE years ago the Royal Agricultural Society.com> ceived the happy idea of holding, in connection wit its annual shows, an agricultural education exhibition, it which the work of the various agricultural colleges might be brought prominently before the public, and especiali the latest results of agricultural scientific research. In fourth annual exhibition of this kind was recently held Derby, and the object of this note is to indicate sever of the more important directions which agricultural resear, 5 and rural education are now taking, and the results illustrated at the exhibition.

Mendel's Laws of Inheritance.

+

8 (app)

obtaining in three or four generations immunity from rust in specimens the original parents of which were of rustsusceptible and rust-resisting types. Very interesting is the application of these laws to the breeding of animals. Mr. W. Bateson, F.R.S., and Mr. R. C. Punnett, of Caius College, Cambridge, lent some preserved bodies of Andalusian and rosecomb bantam fowls. The blue Andalusian never breeds true, but always produces a definite proportion of blacks and splashed whites. From a pen of blues, one-half of the offspring will be blue, one-quarter black, and one-quarter white. When blue is mated with either blue, black, or white, one-half of the offspring will be blue. When, however, black is mated with white, all the offspring are blue. In reality, the blacks and whites are both pure breeds, and the blue is the hybrid form produced by crossing these breeds. It is therefore so constituted that it cannot breed true, and no amount of selection will ever bring about this result. White rosecomb bantams belong to the class of recessive whites, and the progeny of a white rosecomb by any pure-coloured breed are always coloured. Thus when a black and a white rosecomb are crossed, all the hybrids are black. When such hybrids are mated together, three-quarters of the chicks are black and the rest white. In Mendelian terms the black is dominant and the white recessive. There are, therefore, two kinds of blacks, those which carry whites and those which do not. When crossed with white the former give equal numbers of blacks and whites, whilst the latter give blacks only. It is, however, impossible to distinguish between the two kinds of black, except by a breeding test, the eventual result of which is the production of blacks and whites, both of which breed true to colour.

Assimilation of Nitrogen by Leguminous Plants.

The nitrogen problem has received special attention at the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, and recently experiments have been made with the pure inoculation cultures of Dr. Hiltner, of Munich. Tares, peas, alsike, lucerne, and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) were sown in pots of boiled, sterilised, quartz sand, and the effect of inoculating the soil in these pots with the pure cultures supplied by Dr. Hiltner was shown to have decidedly beneficial effects upon the growing plants. Mr. John Golding, by whom these experiments have been carried out, has introduced a new system of inoculation for leguminous crops, which consists in mixing dried sterilised soil with crushed healthy nodules taken from the roots of plants of the same kind as those which it is desired to inoculate. The object of sterilising the soil is to effect the destruction of harmful germs and pests such as the wireworm, &c. Buhlert has shown that the microbes of the leguminous nodules all belong to one species, but are modified so that nodules coming from a particular leguminous plant are those best adapted for inoculation of the soil in which that plant is sown. Mr. Golding's inoculating material will contain, therefore, only the microbe of value for the particular plant cultivated. If this material should prove practically efficacious on a field scale, it can be supplied at a cost of from 1d. to 2d. per lb., which at the rate of an application of 56 lb. per acre represents a cost per acre of from 4s. 8d. to 9s. 4d.

Vitality of Farm Seeds.

This question has received practical elucidation from experiments carried out during the last eleven years by Mr. William Carruthers, F.R.S., consulting botanist to the Royal Agricultural Society. The results were illustrated at Derby by a large table, which showed in respect of all the farm seeds in common use the percentage of living seeds remaining each year from the commencement of the experiments in 1885 to the present year (1906). Of the cereals, oats proved to have the greatest vitality. Black oats retained 76 per cent., and white oats 57 per cent., of living seeds in the eleventh year (1906), whilst in the ninth year (1904) the percentage was no less than 95 per rent, and 97 per cent. Wheat in the ninth year showed a Serminating power of 29 per cent., but none remained alive in the tenth year. Barley retained vitality to the

extent of 90 per cent. in the fifth year (1890) and 19 per cent. in the ninth year (1904), but none remained alive in the tenth year. Grasses were proved to lose their vitality very much more quickly than the cereals. Sheep's fescue, for instance, was reduced by one-half its germinating power by the third year, and all the seeds were dead by the eighth year (1903). Of Timothy, 93 per cent. remained alive in the fifth year and 12 per cent. in the eleventh year. Crested dog's tail germinated 61 per cent. in the fifth year and 11 per cent. in the eleventh year. Of the rye grasses, in the seventh year the perennial and Italian rye grasses germinated 36 per cent. and 71 per cent., and in the eleventh year 6 per cent. and 10 per cent., respectively. Of the root crops, swede turnips retained their vitality almost unimpaired for the first three years, and even up to the seventh year the germination was from 84 per cent. to 85 per cent.

Improvement of Pastures.

The increasing importance of dairying has led to the renovation of a great deal of poor pasture. No small part of the work of some of the agricultural colleges has been devoted to a study of the remedies appropriate to different conditions, whilst from 1885 to 1904 a series of experiments on the improvement of grass lands in various parts of the country was carried out by the Royal Agricultural Society. The results of these experiments were illustrated by turfs cut from the actual pastures, and they brought before the farmers who visited the show lessons of supreme practical importance. In a turf sent by the Royal Agricultural Society, and cut from a pasture in Yorkshire, the application of lime was shown to have been remarkably beneficial, and the dividing line between limed and unlimed portions was clearly indicated by the difference in the character of the herbage. This turf was from land where basic slag without lime had no appreciable effect. On the other hand, turf sent by the Cambridge University Agricultural Department from land of the Boulder-clay formation proved the necessity for the application of phosphates, and basic slag was the appropriate remedy. Lime and cake-feeding in these cases proved of no avail. Turfs sent by the Royal Agricultural College showed that the addition of kainit and superphosphate resulted in a large increase of clover, and a large reduction of moss and undecayed vegetable matter that were conspicuous in the unimproved pasture. The character of the herbage was also shown to be materially influenced by other applications, such as sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda, while the use of 5 cwt. per acre of guano a natural complete manure-produced a decided improvement, the abundance of white clover and sheep's fescue providing splendid food for sheep.

British Forestry.

The exhibits consisted of seeds, cones, trees, shrubs, timbers, tools, photographs, specimens, models, diagrams, working plans, and maps. They were arranged under the supervision of members of the council of the Royal English Arboricultural Society. The Duke of Northumberland, Earl Egerton of Tatton, the Earl of Egmont, and the Earl of Yarborough sent timber specimens showing the economic uses to which British plantations may be applied, and illustrating methods of preservation, chiefly by creosoting. Lord Yarborough's woods have been scientifically managed for a long period, and a chart was displayed showing that 23,564,719 trees have been planted on the Brocklesby and Manby Estates from the year 1700 to the present time. An exhibit sent by the Duke of Northumberland consisted of young trees planted out of doors, and showing the mixture of light-demanding and shade-bearing trees according to the following plan, as adopted in Germany (a) outer row of beech providing shelter; (b) second row with sprinkling of sycamore as a wind-resister; (c) oaks, 9 feet apart, for permanent crop; (d) other hardwood trees for returns during rotation; (e) sprinkling of larch for early returns; (f) shade-bearers of spruce, silver fir, and beech for soil production and stimulation of main crop. Several exhibits illustrated the evils arising from incorrect pruning or from neglect of pruning. Where pruning is not effected