23 



raspberrios, nine of blackciip laspbeiiies, and tsixtct-n of bhickbi'iries. 

 Anion j;" tbc varieties which i»a\'c good results were, liaiieo(;as, Brandy- 

 wiue, Cutlibort, Hansel, and Marlboro of the red raspberries ; Agawam 

 and Lucretia of the blackberries. " Under good cultivation both the 

 raspberry and blackberry are profitable, and (ho demand for choice fruit 

 is increasing." 



Girdlinf/ (jrape-vines (pp. 4-6). — This contains a report by Dr. Jabez 

 Fisher, of Fitchburg, " the father of grape growing in Northern Massa- 

 chusetts," on the experiment made by him at the request of the station 

 to test the effect of girdling the grape-vine, on the time of ripening, and 

 especially on thequalityof the fruit, an important question being whether 

 the increase of the fruit is at the expense of quality. Analyses of sam- 

 ples of the grapes produced in this experiment, by Dr. C. A. Goessman, 

 are also reported. 



The resultsof these, as of previous experiments, indicate that when the 

 vine is girdled the fruit ripens so much earlier (about ten days) that 

 manj' late varieties may be grown in this section which otherwise would 

 not mature before frost; "that a gain of ten days would make a great 

 difi'erence in the price of the fruit; that there is no loss of sugar, and 

 the increased size of the fruit would make it very attractive and more 

 than make up for the softness of the berr}". This latter condition can 

 be of little objection, as most of the grapes grown in New England are 

 sold in local markets." 



Tomatoes (pp. G-8). — This contains a table giving the results of tests 

 of forty-six varieties of tomatoes. Those producing the largest number 

 of ripe tomatoes up to October 2, were Little Gem, Eed Pear-Shaped, 

 Early King Humbert, Hubbard's Curled, of the red varieties ; Green 

 Gage, New White Ample, and Early Pig, of the yellow varieties. Atten- 

 tion is called to the fact that the varieties producing the most double 

 flowers were the most irregular in forming and had comparatively im- 

 perfect fruit. Growers of choice fruit and of seed are advised to discard 

 plants having double blossoms. 



Eastern vs. Western seed sweet-corn (pp. 8-10). — These experiments 

 were made to test the comi^arative value of the seed of sweet-corn 

 gTown in New Encdand and that grown in the Western States. Sixteen 

 varieties were grown, and the tests were duplicated in each case. The re- 

 sults are given in tables, including the following topics : size of ears and 

 kernels, number aiul weight of ears, weight, average height of stocks, 

 time of ripening, chemical analysis of kernels selected when just passing 

 out of the milk stage. No very definite conclusions were reached. 

 " In the corn varieties there is a decided increase of sugar in the East- 

 ern-grown over that in the Western, but in the other varieties the re- 

 sults seem to be in favor of the Western-grown seed. Such a test, 

 however, as the above requires several years repetition before we can 

 feel that we have reached conclusive results." Attention is called to 

 the fact that as yet little is known of the influence the i>ollen of one 



