30 MARCH 1929, Page 14

Tim NEW BOTANY.

It is-quite possible that the discoveries in the manufacture of paper, artificial silk, and cotton and cellulose fibres may give a new value to many sorts of annual and biennial plants. In- ordinate claims have been made in the past for a number of vegetables, for the artichoke, the sunflower, and the giant spinach, to give a few examples—all without justification ; but such lusty plants may treble their value if it proves that the stalk is of even more use than the seed or tuber or root.

W. BEACH THOMAS. W. BEACH THOMAS.