719 



view to further experiments in Iowa bj' tlie station in co-operation with 

 fanners, directions are given for the culture of sugar-beets. 



Sorghum, G. E. Patrick, M. S. (pp. 530-533). — "Work aiming at 

 improvement of the sorghum plant by seed selection based upon analy- 

 sis of individual canes, begun in 1888 and continued in 1889, with the 

 results reported in Bulletins Nos. 5 and 8 [See Experiment Station 

 Kecord, Vol. I, p. 44, and Vol. II, p. 54], was again continued last year 

 (1890). In accordance with the plan of work, seed from only such stalks 

 of 1889 as were among the highest in sugar content was planted. 

 Soil and culture were nearly the same as in previous years, both sup- 

 posed to be good." 



The crop was seriously injured by drought, so that as regards the 

 amount and quality of the juice the results were not as good as those 

 of the previous year. " In j^ercentage of sugar in the juice there was 

 on the average but a trilling decline, and in quite a number of cases an 

 appreciable advance, chietly in canes growing on higher ground." Out 

 of 170 stalks of Early Amber sorghum analyzed the analyses of the 10 

 yielding the highest percentage of sucrose, as tabulated, showed an aver- 

 age purity of 73.4, with a mean sucrose content of 14.88 per cent. The 

 averages for the 179 canes were, purity 69.52, sucrose 13.05 per cent. 



The results of 1889 and 1890 are compared as follows: 



A variety of Early Amber grown from seed received from Minnesota 

 matured about a week earlier than the station cane planted at the 

 same time, but in analyses of GO stocks of this variety the per cent of 

 sucrose averaged only 10.61: and the purity co-efiicient 61.47. 



Insects and insecticides, 0. P. Gillette, M. S. (pp. 535-549). — 

 This includes a brief description of a cateri)illar observed by the 

 author as infesting clover at the station and at Champaign, Illinois; an 

 account of experiments with hellebore, " peroxide of silicates," and Paris 

 green for the cabbage-worm {Pieris rajycc); notes on the following 

 si)ecies of cut-worms observed at the station during the past 3 years : 

 Agrotis mcssoria, A. tesaellata^ A. suhgothica, A. tricosa, A. ypsilon, A. 

 saucia, A. cnigrum, A. bi-earnea, A. clandestina, A. badinodis, A. vel- 

 leripennis, A. auxiliaris, A. mercenaria, A. venerabiUs, A. brunneicollis, 

 A. gladiaria, A. Edentata, A. sufusa, Mamestra reiiigcra, Hadena devas- 

 tatrix, H. sputatrix, H. lignicolor, H. stipata, Nephelodes violans, and 



