... THE average farmer, anxious to check his soil for pests and other causes of infertility, is still sceptical of the new fangled devices by which his soil may be tested for deficiencies, excesses or pests. He thinks of cold and soulless laboratories in which obscure research workers carry out their experiments in august (and probably expensive) isolation. Sussex has disposed of this idea by the ...

... THE problem of how to lift and harvest the sugar-beet crop with only a minimum of labour available is very much to the forefront this autumn. As the season extends over several weeks, all possible variations of weather conditions can be encountered. The soils may be too hard and dry for a beet lifter to work properly, and, after heavy rains, the beet must be drawn from wet, muddy fields under ...

... By Marjory Hemphill pYRETHRUM insecticides, obtained from a daisy-like plant, are imported as the dried flower-heads. The chief sources of supply are Japan, Jugoslavia, Kenya and Brazil. Pyrethrum powder has, for very many years, been used in the East as a flea deterrent and was introduced into this country for the same purpose about a hundred years ago. Recent research has shown that the ...

... IT is one of the tragedies of publicity campaigns that they become so boring. A stage is apt to occur when the fleeting catchword, the oft-reiterated slogan, the flaming poster, mean simply nothing. There is, however, one campaign in which the subject campaigned against is himself the supreme publicity agent. The rat adver tises himself everywhere and on every possible occasion. There is no ...

... THE first big Services Rugby match of the new season was, as last year, played at Swansea, where the R.A.F. drew with South Wales, each side scoring nine points. Both teams were strongly repre sented, South Wales having six Internationals and the R.A.F. fourteen, including two Dominions stars, S/Ldr. R. Rankin, D.F.C. (Australia), and F/O. E. Grant (New Zealand). In the evening the teams were ...

... Irrigation in the Lebanon African Tunnelling Engineers Help in Food Production ALONG the Mediterranean coast north wards from Tyre and Sidon lies a strip of good farm soil, but there is no available water supply for irrigation. For twenty years schemes have been under consideration for bringing water from the Litani River known, in its lower reaches, as the Kasmieh. About 9000 acres of ...

... 'pHE Beagle packs are doing their best to keep alive the 1 traditions of the sport, against the day when it may be possible for those members in the Services to resume opera tions. The meet illustrated is a combined operation of the West Surrey and Horsell Beagles and the Worcester Park and Buckland. Followers included several children, a few Service men on leave, and dare we say it a few dug ...

... TO the very many golfing friends who have made inquiries about my health following my recent operation, I offer my sincere thanks. I am now convalescing and am looking forward to being better than I have ever been, but it will be some months before I am able to golf again. I feel very sorry that I was not able to finish off the programme of the Red Cross matches I had scheduled this year, Vut ...

... By A. Croxton Smith ALL breeders of dogs on an extensive scale must have encountered numerous cases of abnormalities in puppies, one in a litter occasionally appearing with a deformity that condemns it to early death. In a long experience, however, I never had one short of a limb, but that such do occur is apparent from a case that appeared in the courts a few weeks ago, a man having been ...

... THE small mixed farm is the backbone of British agriculture, and lucky is the child born and bred on one of them. The fun and companionship that these country children get from the young animals more than make up for the chores they have to do and the rareness of their visits to town and cinema. Of all things necessary to happiness, we would place companionship first, both for humans and ...

... MANY species of fungus pests attack glasshouse crops, and the amateur gardener producing indoor green- stuffs expects to encounter some of them. Tomatoes especially are liable to the attack of tomato leaf mould, and the house shown in the photograph was badly infected with this pest. When a glasshouse crop is attacked, the gardener has two different pro blems to consider. First of all, he must ...

... Wet-Weather Thoughts Getting the Maximum Return From Every Square Yard SUCCESS in gardening, as the spring- cleaning pictures show, calls for the possession of a good many virtues. The most obvious ones are perseverance, a capac- ity for hard work, and attention to detail. But in a season like the present one, when there is every indication that outdoor seed- sowing will be delayed by wet ...