MEWS AND NOTES.

Nelson Evening Mail, 24 August 1905, Page 1

MEWS AND NOTES.

(Jreatlv to the satisfaction of his many friends . and admirers, Dr Pierre Curie, the discoverer of radium, has been elected a member of • the Academy of Science (writes the | Paris correspondent of the JLondon I "Daily Telegraph. ") Tardy jus- ! tice has been done to a savant, who was not himself discovered, so far as his fellow-countrymen were | concerned, until the No^el prize was awarded to him in 1903 by the Academy of Stockholm. JDr Curio has beeh ably seconded iin his experiments by his devoted wife, who remarked, in the course of conversation with a visitor who had Called to congratulate her, that until the distinction had been conferred on him by aJ foreign academy nothing had beeui done for h m at home. Twice had her husband applied in vain for a professor s chair, which had become vacant but after that date the Academy t i' Science was prodigal with acknowledgment and encouragement, and now by this election (t Im* atonod for past negfect. As for Madame Curie, she herself deserves the highest of recognition, but as she laughingly explains, women are not eligible for such membershin, and. after all, her greatest ambition is to be of use to her husband. In h s meteorological notes ior last month, tho Bev. D. C. Bates says that July is regarded as the midwinter month in New Zealand, because tho temperature is then lowest arid tke rainfall generally the heaviest. Th s year, however, the rainfall was mostly heavier in June, and though the temperature showed a decline, yet the weather of July was On. the whole fairly mild, anrt marked by an absence of high winds. The most remarkable featur-'s in th. 1 rainfall returns were tin* continuances of a wet period on the east coast of the. South Island, Invereargill and Dipton recording minimum falls for -July for 14 years', returns. West of 'he dividing ranges- of the North Island (that is, over Taranaki and Wellington) the rainfall was only about half the .luly average, but , on tho east side p.' thc ranges in the Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay districts, the rainfall was <i,iiit'e double the usual. Elsewhere over the centre of the North Island thp rainfall was about Ihe average for previous years, but in excess I oyer the Thames and Bay of Plenty. North of Auckland the records were' more uneven. The record at l'akaraka was lower than that in any previous July in 14 years, but clsp- . where the fall was considerable. In the South Island. in Canterbury and ihe West Coast, the rainfall Wits above tho July average. » In reference to the blight- that lias attacked the trees in the blui cum plantation in Canterbury, thc bi'ologist of the Department of i Agriculture reports as follows :— "I Have carefully examined the blue gum plantations of the South Is land. The damage is being done by an imported scale insect, which is killing the trees. Owing tq thi height of many of the trees it jy impossible to spray thetn ; but there is a small ladybird "beetle, a native of Australia, known as RhizoLius ventralis. which does a great deal to keep the scale in check Last year I wrote and made arrangements to receive successive supplies of this ladybird, and have received several letters from, the experts in Australia regrettinlgthat owing to the extremely unfavourable season they had not been ablp to collect. In a letter received on the 6th uit. it was stated that the ladybirds would not be availalblo till the end of the present month. Even then, if the weather is severe, I may h<a,.*e to -hoild thenn 'in tho laiborators', as to liberate them in tho south during bad weather would be fatal. I am, however, promised a succession of consignments, and this should meet the case. A letter just to hand states that it is hoped to collect the insects very soon. Should the natural enemy fail„ then the only way to prevent tho spread of tho scale would be to' cut down' the infested plantatiolns, i let the trees break away from • the stumps and spray thoroughly. Tliis would kill out the scale. Thera is no power at present to compel any action. The Orchard and Garden Pests Act under the title of thc Vegetation Diseases Act, gave power to deal with such outbreaks as this and potato diseases. Parliament, however, limited its operations to orchards aod gardens."

A prime 01-VJcction to tho re-if-ii Iding of Zion, whether in Aii* ca o*« elsewhere says' "St. Janaes' Budget") is that the Jews are not now an agricultural peoples, and that in colonisation it 'is necssary to till the land before entering- on traffic and barter. The argument i» a stroaig one — if it -be conceded that the Jews are incapable of making- a wilderness blossom as thd rose. But the lateet consular report on Palestine shows that tho concession cannot bo allowed. The Jewish colonies in Palestine • were founded with tho same c£:/ject of induciite Jews who had been compelled to emigrate from Europe to become farmers on the land hallowed to them by religious sentiment and national aspiration. These coloni*es, therefore, are agricultural in character. According* to the consular report, they have bdten sq- far successful that after ton years the settlers will lx* able to pay back the advances received by them. Some* of the settlements are cultivating the vi*nc and producing a lartffi crop. "Taken as al whole," says %he cautious consul, "hhe prospects of the various colo**nies are satis-factory." This 'does! not look' as though 'the Jew has lost in commerce his more primitive capacity for agriculture. •'Every rope used in fclw Britsili naval service, from heaving line to! hawser, and wherever it .may bo used, on shipboard or in •do*ckyar<l.'' said a cordage manufacturer roconrfc*** 1 ly, "has woven iri*to one of its strands for purposes of lidentification a red thread. The presurnp J tion is that anj- ropo with the rgtf thread found outside of such uses is in improper hands. This custom in tho British Navy has prevailed! sinco tho days of Nelson, or sinos long before that for aught I |unow. Somo large concerns, such as raiLways, sometimes use an inberwoveni coloujvd thread." The fern which furnishes the Maoris with the root so much relished b.y them as a food is not very common. A great proportion of the plan.t which covers so much of tlie land in New Zealand does not produce roots large enough or sufficiently rich in starch to be worth digging. It is only in rich soils, and generally on sunny ' knolls. It is stated that relish was often added io the dish hy soaking it in the juice of the tutu. — -- '•■■ ■ -