all scaffolding purposes, and for the transport of all goods by human agency. In early life it is used for food; when full grown it supplies the vast water population with masts, and from it are made chopsticks, pipes, umbrellas, tables, stools and musical instruments. Between forty and sixty varieties of bamboo are said to be known to the Chinsee. Among other trees worthy of mention are the varnish tree (Rhus vernicifera D. C.), the tallow tree (Stillingia sebifera Michx.), wood-oil tree (Aleurites cordata Stend.), and vegetable wax tree (Fraxinus chinensis Roxb.). Twelve species of rhododendron are met with in Szechuan, where rhododendron forests are found at altitudes ranging from 2000 to 12 000 ft. China has to import timber to satisfy its own needs, nearly as much wood entering China from abroad (£ 539 730 worth in 1911) as is obtained within its borders for purposes of local trade through the Customs (in 1910 £ 641 969 ). Foochow poles (fir and pine) are the chief feature of the industry. The forests are owned by private individuals, and timber is felled all the year round, while replanting is only done spasmodically. In this respect Fukien province resembles the rest of China. The main supply of timber has hitherto come from twenty-three districts in the prefectures of Yenping, Kienning, Shaowu, and Tingchou. The poles, using various streams, collect at Nantai, where in the aggregate they reach an annual value of £1000 000. Hankow in 1910 for the first time surpassed Foochow as the chief port of the trade, with Antung, the port of export for Manchurian timber brought from the Yalu, and Kowloon next in order. The timber trade of Wuchow (Kuangsi), mainly in junks, is however estimated at £250 000. The output of the Yalu Timber Company for 1910 is given as 800 000 logs of 8 feet long. A dividend amounting to £150 000 was paid, equivalent to 5 per cent, on the original capital. Examples of afforestation are being set by the Chinese in the Honkong leased territory at Weihaiwei, in the German territory of Kiaochou, and by the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company at Tongshan, Chihli. Little attempt has been made by the Chinese to profit by these examples, but a writer in a recent Bulletin of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, mentions that among the hill men or Hakkas of Kuangtung province the practice of forming plantations, mostly of pines, on the hills round their villages is becoming general; but they have not developed a sound principle of forestry and therefore obtain only a scanty return for the labour expended upon it. It is indeed quite a rare thing to see any trees planted by the Chinese permitted to attain their proper development for market purposes. The State Forest administration is attached to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Nung Ling Pu). The following official system was promulgated on August 8, 1912. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry has control over all matters regarding agriculture, irrigation, forestry, the breeding of domestic animals, sericulture, pisciculture, reclamation of waste lands, and of all yamens established therefor, and officials connected therewith. The General Office of the Ministry, besides fulfilling the duties provided for under the General Rules common to all Ministries, shall undertake the following: a) All matters concerning Forestry and Agriculture. b) Agricultural and Forestry Exhibitions and Conferences. c) Investigations abroad in connexion with Agriculture and Forestry. The Ministry shall contain the following Departments: a) General Agricultural Affairs. b) Reclamation. c) Forestry. d) Fisheries and Marine Products. The Forestry Department shall supervise the following: 690 a) Encouragement and supervision of afforestation. b) Conservation of forest. c) Government forests. d) Organization of forestry enterprises and control of same. A New Method for the Afforestation of the Sandy Portions of the Great Hungarian Plain (Alföld). KISS, FERENCZ (Chief Counsellor of the Department of Water and Forests) in Erdészeti-Lapok, Year LII, Part VII, pp. 296-318. Budapest, April 1, 1913. The report presented on March 14, 1913, to the National Forestry Society and dealing with the afforestation of the sandy parts of the Great Hungarian Plain. This afforestation was intended at the beginning to protect the neighbouring pastures and cultivated land from the encroachment of the moving sands of the adjacent steppes. The work was begun 100 years ago, and its economic utility was only considered after the continued labours of a century had unexpectedly been crowned with success. At first, black poplars were planted, and it was only in 1870 that Robinia took exclusive possession of the wooded portions of the Alföld. The writer gives a biological study of the flora of the Great Hungarian Plain, including Robinia, which tree, in his opinion, is not capable of improving the poor soil. He recommends a new method, whih does not confine itself to the afforestation of land suitable for tree plantations, but extends to the reclamation and improvement of a large portion consisting of sandy soil and sandhills, which hitherto has been little used owing to the poverty and dryness of the land. The writer attests the excellence of Austrian pine for preliminary planting, as it renders the soil suitable for the cultivation of more remunerative forest trees. HYGIENE 691 LIVE STOCK AND BREEDING. Oxidation of the Arsenite of Soda in Dipping Tanks. (1) — WILLIAMS, C. in The Agricultural Journal of the Union of South Africa, Vol. V, No I, pp. 68-74. Pretoria, January 1913. The writer mentions some facts observed by him in the laboratory of the Central Experiment Farm, Cedara, Natal, namely that some samples of arsenical dip fluids after being kept in the laboratory for a short time often showed a distinct loss in arserite. The amount of total arsenic in the fluid remained constant; there was consequently an oxidation of the arsenite with formation of arsenates. The writer quotes an article by Messrs. W. F. Cooper and G. A. Freak, in the Journal of Agricultural Science for October 1911, and the circular by Audrey V. Fuller, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture. In the latter the oxidation of the arserite was attributed to the action of bacteria present in dip fluids under natural conditions. These bacteria possibly gained access to the tanks either through the water used in preparing the dip, or through the air or by the excrementitious or other matter derived from the live stock passing through the dip. In the second half year of 1912 the writer conducted two series of experiments, in connection with the subject, in the laboratory at Cedara. Three dip fluids were prepared. The first was made up of sodium arsenite in pure water; the second contained excretory matter in addition, but otherwise was similar to the first; the third was made up according to Pichford's formula (arsenite of soda, paraffin and soft soap), with the addition of some excretory matter. Each dip was analysed immediately after it was prepared and also at the end of every month, for five months, the arsenite and the total arsenic being determined as arsenious oxide, As, O3. The amount of total arsenic remained constant in each sample; while the arsenite did not undergo any oxidation whatever in the first dip, it diminished rapidly in the other two dips, practically disappearing within two or three months. A second series of investigations was carried out with a proprietary arsenical dip, kept in the open in the tanks, and in the laboratory in closed vessels. The data thus obtained bear out Cooper and Freak's conclusions, that the oxidation of the arserite is far more rapid in the summer months than in the winter, owing doubtless to the greater activity of the bacteria at the higher temperatures. Referring to the fact that sodium arsenate is much less efficacious as an insecticide than the corresponding arsenite, the writer points out the vital importance of the question to stock owners, and considers it essential that (1) See: No. 2198, B. July 1911; No. 2425, B. Aug.-Sept.-Oct. 1911; No. 146, B. Jan. 1912, Nos. 358 and 359, B. Feb. 1912; No. 810, B. May 1912; No. 934, B. June 1912; No. 43, B. Jan. 1913. (Ed.). they should have the contents of their tanks analysed regularly in order to have estimated the amounts of both arsenites and arsenates in the fluid; for by the neglect of this precaution they would run great risks. 692 Destruction of the Pathogenic Agent of Foot-and-Mouth Disease: Experi. ments in Specially Constructed Manure Heaps.— LOEFFLER, F. in Berliner Tierärztliche Wochenschrift, Year 20, No. 7, pp. 113-115. Berlin, February 13, 1913. It has often been proved by experiment that temperatures of 60 to 70°C. (140 to 160o F.) may exist in manure heaps. As the agent of foot-andmouth disease is killed by still lower temperatures, it may be concluded that manure from animals suffering from this disease is disinfected, if it is so kept that its temperature rises to 50 to 70° C. (120 to 160° F.) Hitherto, however, this had not been proved. In 1912, the writer prepared a manure heap in such a manner that this temperature was quickly attained. He introduced the pathogenic agent into the manure and a few days later used it for inoculation. The experiment was carried out as follows. A layer of straw 10 inches thick was laid down upon a concrete surface 9 ft. by 8 ft. to serve as a base upon which to pile up the manure. The latter was a mixture of fresh cow and pig manure containing much straw. In the experiment, fresh lymph was used; it was mixed with a 0.9 per cent. solution of common salt in the proportion of I to 20, and filtered through Chamberland filters; 15 cc. of this mixture was put into test-tubes, and some tubes of lymph were kept in the cellar to serve as a control of the virulence. In addition, the hoofs of a pig which had died of foot-and-month disease, were cut off, wrapped in gauze, and introduced. The writer used 12 numbered maximum thermometers for the measurement of the temperature. The thermometers, hoof-parings and lymph-tubes were equally distributed in the heap while it was being built up. Another thermometer was put between the layer of straw and the manure. The heap was built up like a mangel-clamp and pressed down with forks; it was then covered with a layer of straw 4 inches thick, upon which was thrown a layer of dry earth of the same depth; the total height of the heap was 6 feet. After ten days, the manure was again spread and the thermometers, lymph and hoofs removed. The different thermometers registered from 55.5 to 75° C. (132 to 167o F.). Pigs were then inoculated with the lymph and also with the hoof-extract, but they did not fall ill; but when inoculated with the control lymph they sickened. Thus the pathogenic agent must have been destroyed by the heat of the manure heap. It is therefore possible to make the manure from animals suffering from foot-and-mouth disease entirely free from infection, if the heap is constructed and managed in the manner described by the writer. - 693 The Internal Application of Carbolic Acid for the Prevention of Contagious Abortion in Cattle. The Relation of Granular Vaginitis to Abortion. — TAYLOR, W. J. in Bulletin of the Montana Agricultural College Experiment Station, No. 90, pp. 19-31. Bozeman, Montana, July 1912. The experiments commenced in 1909 in three herds seem to warrant the following conclusions: 1). Carbolic acid, either fed in solution or injected hypodermically, seems to be a specific against contagious abortion. 2). Cows, as a rule, will eat with apparent relish as much as 750 œ. of a 4 per cent. solution of carbolic acid in feed daily. 3). The hypodermic injection as a treatment in an affected herd involves less labour than feeding. 4). In cases of impending abortion, carbolic acid can be injected in sufficient quantity to cause staggering gait and dilation of the pupil of the eye (when it should be withheld for from ten to fifteen hours and repeated) with no apparent unsatisfactory after-effects. 5). All males used for breeding purposes should be treated with carbolic acid either hypodermically or in the feed. The peris and sheath should be thoroughly disinfected, both before and after service. Contagious abortion and granular vaginitis may be transmitted through the medium of the male, unless proper precautions are observed. ó). Not all cows showing granular vaginitis abort. 7). Heifers pregnant for the first time are more liable to abort thad during subsequent periods of gestation and should be carefully watchen and vigorously treated, if abortion exists in the herd. 694 Plants Poisonous to Live Stock in Paraguay and in Misiones (Argentina). BERTONI, MOISÉS S. in Agronomia, Boletin de la Estación Agronomica de Puerto Bertoni, Vol. V, No. 3-4, pp. 140-144. Puerto Bertoni, Paraguay, January-February 1913. The writer agrees with Spegazzini that the toxicity of poisonous plants is generally due more to the stage of their growth than to their specific character. Besides, the quantity eaten by the animals, the age of the plants, and the conditions of climate and soil affect the degree of toxicity. There is no doubt that pastures with very young grasses are the most dangerous; it is well known that many herbaceous plants in their early stages contain hydrocyanic acid. In other plants this acid may be formed in the parts that are cut and kept for a few hours. In Misiones there are several plants in the pastures which are poisonous when they are very young. Such are according to the writer's observations the Gramineae Cynodon dactylon, Andropogon halepensis, A. condensatus («aguarà-ruguài » or <«< cola de zarro »), A. bicornis («< caapî San Juan »), Panicum sanguinale (« kaapii-ahîhi » or « falsa cebadilla de Misiones »). There are, however, some exceptions: castor oil plants are harmless when young and become poisonous when adult; the species of Tragia and of Dulechampia are harmless when young, but they are to be regarded with suspicion when grown up. It is also known that drought and the compactness of the soil increase the toxicity of certain plants; in other plants, on the contrary, the writer has observed that they become more poiso nous after abundant rain. Such is the case with some of the above-mentioned Gramineae, and perhaps manioc. Among the poisonous or dangerous plants, the writer mentions further: Commelina sulcata, a species of Tradescantia (called «trapuerava » in Brazil), |