497 



(1) In the experiment with fertilizers 20 pounds of acid phosphate, 

 10 pounds of lime, "muriate i)hosphate," salt, nitrate of soda, super- 

 ]>ho.spliate, land jjlaster, and j^round oil-cake were applied singly on one 

 half of the two sixteenth-acre plats used for each fertilizer, the second 

 half receiving double the amount of the fertilizer used on the other half. 

 There were also eight untreated plats. The seeds germinated well on 

 all the plats, but tiie young plants soon "commenced to shrivel uj), 

 and all disappeared before reaching a height of 3 inches," thus indi- 

 cating that this disease is not due to exhaustion of the soil. 



(2) In the experiment with fungicides the seeds, mixed with dry soil, 

 were soaked with suli)hide of sodium, sulphate of coi)per, corrosive 

 sublimate, or lime combined with hyposulphite of sodium, tiowers of 

 sulphur, sulphate of copper, or sulphate of iron. The fungicides were 

 applied in solutions of dilferent degrees of strength, but iu)ne of the 

 ai)p]ications proved in any way eifective to repress the disease. Micro- 

 scopic examinations of diseased plants did not reveal any specific 

 organisms as the cause of the disease. 



(3) In the third series of experiments some plats were moistened with 

 an extract made by soaking the chaft" or straw of flax in cold or boiling 

 water; one plat was covered with dry healthy chaff, another with dry 

 diseased chaff", and another with green straw of healthy plants cut into 

 small pieces. A similar experiment was made with an extract of 

 healthy fresh plants in a region free from the disease. In both cases 

 the treated plats suffered from the disease, while those untreated were 

 not aifected by it. The indications, therefore, are that, as experience 

 in Europe shows, flax is "unkind" to flax, i. e. tlax will not do well on 

 land cropped with tiax the previous year. Investigations of this mat- 

 ter will be continued by the author in the laboratory. 



Structure of the elax stem, H, L. Osborn, Pii. D. (pj), 31-3S, 

 illustrated). — A popular account of tlie structure of the stem of tli(; flax, 

 to explain the nature of the fiber and the ojjerations necessary for its 

 prei)aration. 



Minnesota Station, Bulletin l^'o. 14, January, 1891 (pp. 24). 



Pig feeding for proffi', N. W. MoLain, LL. B. (pp. 41-45). — 

 "For the i)urpose of demonstrating somctiiing of practical value to the 

 fjirmers and swine growers of the State," fifty-four Duroc-Jerse^' j)igs, 

 farrowed by seven sows, were raised and fattened for the market. An 

 accurate account was kei)t of the cost of the food consumed by the sows 

 and pigs from the birth of the latter to the time of slaughtering, and 

 an allowance of $30 made for the care of the animals during about 11 

 months. Through the summer the pigs ran in a brush pasture furnishing 

 very little feed. Three times a day they were fed all they would eat 

 of " meal screenings," either steamed or mixed with water. During 

 September a part of the meal was replaced by green corn, and during 

 October by corn on the cob. From October to .lanuary 25 the food 



