328 



use. Currants. — Brief notes on 9 varieties, which are recommended in 

 the order named: Fay, Moore's Ruby, Wilder, Raby Castle, Red Dutch, 

 White Dutch, Lee's Prolific, Crandall, and Black Naples. Gooseber- 

 ries. — Brief notes on 4 varieties. " For the farmer's garden, Early 

 Orange and Downing are recommended." Grapes. — Brief descriptive 

 notes on 33 varieties. The black rot was prevalent in 1890, but was 

 held in check at the station by the application of a mixture prepared 

 according to the following formula recommended by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture : 



Dissolve 2 pounds of sulphate of copper in 2 gallons of Lot water ; in another ves- 

 sel dissolve 2^ pounds of carbonate of soda in a siaiilar manner ; mix the two solu- 

 tions, and when all chemical reaction has ceased add 1^ pints of commercial ammonia 

 and dilute the whole to 22 gallons. This should be sprayed on the vines with a force- 

 pump, at intervals depending somewhat upon the amount of rain-fall from the last 

 of May till the end of July. 



" For family use the following grapes are recommended for quality 

 and productiveness: Concord, Delaware, Gcethe, Martha, Moore's Early, 

 Wilder, Worden." 



Entomological notes, F. M. Webster (pp. 36-45). — iSTotes on ex- 

 periments in rearing the plum curculio from plums and other fruits, 

 reprinted from Insect Life, Vol. II, pp. 305-310 and 383 ; on the eggs 

 and oviposition of the strawberry crown borer {Tyloderma fragarue, 

 Riley) ; on the field cricket and Raltiea ignita as injurious to strawber- 

 ries; and on SoIeno2)sis f II ga.r, Li monius auripilis, Carpopkilus hrachy- 

 pterus, lulus impressus, and Cosmopepla carnifex as enemies of raspber- 

 ries and blackberries (See Insect Life, Vol. II, p. 257). 



Iowa Station, Bulletin No. 11, Novemher, 1890 (pp. 64). 



Experiments in making and storing hay, R. P. Speer (pp. 

 443-447). — '^The report of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 for 1889 shows that 3,600,000 acres of grass was cut for hay in Iowa in 

 1888. If the average yield was \\ tons of hay per acre, then the prod- 

 uct of the State was 4,500,000 tons, which (at $4 per ton) was worth 

 $18,000,000. By general observation and from my own experience in 

 feeding hay I know that more than one third of the value of each of our 

 hay crops is lost on account of late cutting, exposure to rains, dews, 

 and the sun, and avoidable injuries while stacked or stored in barns." 



The prevalence of rains a<iid heav}^ dews during the haying season 

 makes it difficult to cure grass and clover properly in Iowa. In clear, 

 hot weather the hay is apt to dry too much in the field ; it is also liable 

 to injury from heating and " sweating " in stacks or barns. The expe- 

 rience of the author having shown that sweating might be prevented 

 in the case of large stacks by building them around tall poles set in the 

 ground, he was induced to try a similar plan in making small hay-cocks. 

 Wood pulp caps with a IJ-iuch hole in the top were procured. 



