235 



Massachusetts Hatch Station, Bulletin No. 10, October, 1890 (pp. 14). 



Special fertilizeks fok gkeenhouse crops, S. T. Maynard, B. 

 S. (pp. 3-7).— "The questiou of the use of special fertilizers under glass 

 is becoming one of great importance and is attracting much attention 

 among practical gardeners and scientific men." This article is a pre- 

 liminary report on a series of experiments in this line begun in the 

 winter of 1888-89 and conducted "in two houses built side by side 

 as nearly alike as possible, one heated with steam and the other with 

 hot water [For accounts of these greenhouses and their heating, see 

 Bulletins Nos. 4, 6, and 8 of this station, and Experiment Station Eec- 

 ord, Vol. I, pp. 83 and 225 ; Vol. II, p. 104]. The space was divided into 

 plats of equal size in each house with the same number and kind of 

 plants in each." Muriate and sulphate of potash, sulphate of ammonia, 

 nitrate of soda, and bone-black were used singly for carnations, lettuce, 

 and tomatoes. An ordinary liquid manure was also used for carnations, 

 and nitrate of potash for lettuce and tomatoes. Muriate and sulphate 

 of potash Avere compared for pausies, and in another experiment with 

 carnations ground bone and muriate or sulphate of potash were com- 

 bined with one of the other fertilizers named above or with dried blood. 

 In general it appeared that sulphate of ammonia gave the best results, 

 especially in the production of foliage ; bone-black increased the number 

 of blossoms ; the results with sulphate of potash were better than with 

 muriate; and those with nitrate of potash were better than those with 

 nitrate of soda. 



Injury to peach buds, S. T. Maynard, B. S. (pp. 7,8). — "In 

 New England the great question to be solved in the cultivation of the 

 peach is the protection of the buds from injury by the cold during 

 the winter. To learn when the buds were destroyed, observations of 

 their condition were made every week from December 1, 1889, to March 

 13, 1890, and at each observation five hundred buds were cut open and 

 examined." December 28, 6 per cent of the buds examined were found 

 to have been destroyed; February 1, 14 per cent, and March 7, after 

 the thermometer had fallen to 6° below zero, 80 per cent. Efforts to 

 find some means of protecting the buds against injury from the cold 

 have thus far been unsuccessful, but investigations in this line will be 

 continued. 



Small fruits, S. T. May^nard, B. S. (pp. 8-14).— Tabulated notes 

 on 49 vtirieties of strawberries, 82 of raspberries, and IG of blackber- 

 ries. "The strawberry crop for the \n\i>t year was very variable, some 

 varieties that gave great promise in previous seasons doing poorly, 

 while many that gave little promise before were very good." 



The author believes that a better crop of strawberries could be pro- 

 duced at less cost for thorough cultivation if the plants were grown in 

 hills, and is conducting experiments with this method of planting. 



