Government. Rural Societies have the power to organize non-subsidized 105 - Second International Congress of Instruction in Household Manage ment at Gnent, Belgium, in June 1913. IIe Congrès international de l'Enseignement ménager à Gand, Belgique, en Juin 1913. Royaume de Belgique. Exposition universelle de Gand 1913. Deuxième Congrès international de l'Enseignement ménager. Invitation. It has been decided in conjunction with the International Office of Instruction in Household Management at Fribourg, Switzerland, that the second International Congress of Instruction in Household Management shall be held at Ghent in 1913, during the Universal Exhibition, towards the end of June. Office of Secretary-General: 19, Rue Willems, Bruxelles. 106 - Third International Congress of Farm Women at Ghent, June 12 to 15, 1913. IIIe Congrès International des Cercles de Fermières à Gand, du 12 au 15 Juin 1913. Royaume de Belgique. Exposition Universelle de Gand 1913. 3me Congrès International des Cercles de Fermières. Invitation. It is only fifteen years, at the most, since the first farm women's associations were instituted in Canada and the United States. Six years ago, they were established in Belgium and still more recently in Ireland, Poland, Austria, Hungary and France, and the formation of similar societies is announced at an early date in Germany and Spain. The first International Congress of Farm Women was held at Colorado Springs, United States in 1911; the second at Lethbridge, Alberta, Candada; the third will take place at Ghent in 1913 during the Universal Exhibition from June 12 to 15. Secretary's Office: 38 Rue du Pépin, Bruxelles. AGRICULTURAL SOIL PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY MICROBIOLOGY CROPS AND CULTIVATION. 107 Electric Niagaras in Recent Thunderstorms. (1) LAFOREST, M. A.: Les Niagaras électriques et les récents orages. — Journal de la Société Nationale d'Horticulture de France, 4th Series, Vol. XIII, pp. 572-574. Paris, September 1912. The electric niagaras which have been in use for eleven years in the department of Vienne are said by the inventors to have afforded complete protection from hailstorms during that period. This statement, contradicted by numerous inhabitants of those regions, was investigated by M. Turpain of Limoges in 1911; he reported that the instruments were of little value, and in the same year a building in Poitiers which bore the apparatus was struck by lightning and set on fire. Notwithstanding this evidence, a powerful instrument was installed at the top of the Eiffel Tower, which was to afford protection to the whole of Paris; yet during this last summer, on five distinct occasions that city experienced heavy hail and thunder storms, giving conclusive proof of the inefficiency of the electric niagaras. 108 - An Application of the New Pedological Knowledge to Grasslands. SMITII, W. G. and CRAMPTON, C. B. The Influence of Origin and Topography on Grasslands. Brilish Association for the Advancement of Science. Dundee: 1912. Section M (Agriculture), m 13. London. This is one of the first applications of the new pedological, i. e. ecological, knowledge to agriculture in Great Britain. The extent and distribution of grassland in each district of Britain depends much on the economic requirements, but the natural productive capacity is primarily determined by the nature of the soil and vegetation resulting from the past and present influences of climate and topography, and the distribution of rocks. Extensive tracts of existing grasslands have, under man's operations, replaced other types of vegetation, such as woodland, heath, moor and marsh. Such grassland is liable to change, since it is only a phase introduced into the history of the vegetation. Other areas of grassland are of natural origin, and remain relatively constant under conditions which alter very slowly. (1) See No. 622, B. April 1912. (Ed.). The area of stable grassland in Britain is limited, . g., chalk downs, and exposed hills and bosses of limestones and basic igneous rocks. The migratory types are widely distributed on alluvial areas and rain-washed slopes along the river and coastal belts, and on the flanks of mountains. The changes which lead naturally to the evolution of grassland, and other changes leading to its retrogression, are therefore factors to be specially considered where maintenance or improvement of grasslands is in view. It is suggested that these conditions, taken in conjunction with observations on experimental plots, may aid in correlating information on different types of grasslands. The stable types of grassland apparently owe their existence to the nature of the rocks and to the physiography, which limits the growth of trees and prevents leaching of the surface and stagnancy. Apart from the stable types there are the migratory types mentioned below: a) Flushing of the slopes of moorland hills with water derived from springs, or with surface water bearing rain-wash, is favourable to the formation of grassland; this is specially well developed where the rocks are rich in lime or other bases, and where the flushing is temporary and periodic. b) Recent deposits of alluvial clay loams in the higher parts of stream-courses support other types of grassland. c) Other types are formed on the alluvial clay loams of the flood plains in the lower parts of river courses. d) Maritime types occur in succession to salt-marsh on coastal flats, and also on steep coastal contours exposed to wind, salt spray and earth-creep, and where the nature of the surface prevents rapid leaching and the formation of heath. The following conditions lead to the retrogression of grassland: 1. In moorland districts, invasion by acid, humous, and ferruginous waters leads to deterioration, and in the case of alluvial sandy loams to the formation of pan and consequent stagnation and reversion to moorland. t II. — Continued leaching by rainwater removes the soluble salts from the upper layers of porous sandy loams and leads to production of heath. III. — Alluvial grasslands and those of moorland flushes deteriorate by leaching when flooding is prevented; the low-lying clay loam. alluvial suffers mainly from insufficient drainage. IV. Accumulation of humus because of acidity or insufficient grazing discourages the more valuable grasses. V. — Grasslands may suffer depletion slowly through the continuous removal of wool and carcase. MALPEAUX, L. and LEFORT, G. (Ecole d'Agriculture du Pas-de-Calais). La circulation des nitrates dans le sol. Annales de la Science Agronomique, Year 29, No. 4, pp. 241258. Paris, October 1912. Six wooden boxes of 50 cm. cube were filled as follows:- 1) and 2) with sand containing 13.5 % of water, 3), 4), 5) and 6) with a loamy soil containing 16.8% of water. Both soil and sand were tightly packed down. In 1) and 3) 10 gr. of calcium nitrate were put into a hole, 2.5 cm. in diam. X 3 cm. deep, in the middle of the box. In 2) and 4) 10 grams of sodium nitrate were similarly placed. 5) and 6) received respectively 20 gr. of calcium nitrate and 20 gr. of sodium nitrate sown in a small furrow 2 cm. deep and 40 cm. long running parallel to the near side of the box and about 5 cm. away from it. This side, in the case of 5) and 6), was also perforated by three rows of holes at 5 cm., 10 cm, and 15 cm. from the surface, the holes being 5 cm. apart in the rows. The holes were fitted with corks, and being 2 cm. in diam. allowed an augur of 1.5 cm. diam. to be introduced for sampling. Though the boxes were kept in a place with little ventilation, in order to reduce evaporation, it was found advisable to spray them with 2 litres of water each (equiv. to 0.31 in. of rain) after the experiment had been running 65 days. Samples were taken at 5 cm., 10 cm. and 15 cm. from the deposited nitrate, both in vertical and horizontal directions. The Grandval and Lafoux method was used for the analyses and the results are given in Table I. Under the above conditions diffusion is evidently extremely slow; even after four months the distribution of nitrate in the sampling zone is very unequal, the inequality being greater in the soil than in the sand. Vertical diffusion does not appear to be more rapid than lateral. A second series of experiments was carried out in the field. A good loamy soil was selected and a strip of land marked out into 10 squares each 75 cm. X 75 cm. In the centre of these a hole was made with an iron peg and a charge of sodium nitrate introduced to the required depth by means of a glass tube. The hole was then filled up again with earth. The surface of even-numbered squares was consolidated as far as possible, while the odd-numbered plots were hoed. Samples were taken from the surface with an augur, 8 cm. deep and at a distance of 5 cm. from the centre; they yielded the results shown on p. 190. |