40 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



clover attained an unusual height and luxuriance. Nitrate of soda in amounts 

 A'arying from 150 to 250 lbs. per acre produced only a slight increase on these 

 plats. 



Plats top-dressed with slag meal and a high grade of sulphate of potash gave 

 an average annual yield during the 3 years of 3,351 lbs. per acre, while an 

 addition of 200 lbs. of nitrate of soda apparently gave an average annual 

 increase of 1,479 lbs. per acre. 



In another section of the field a mixture of slag and high grade sul- 

 phate of potash with 150 lbs. of nitrate of soda per acre produced an average 

 yield of 3,279 lbs. of hay as conipareti with 2,710 and 3,747 lbs. after appli- 

 cations of a mixture of the same fertilizers and 200 and 250 lbs. respectively 

 of nitrate of soda. 



Notes on the character of the herbage on the various plats indicate that 

 the amount of white weed (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) has greatly de- 

 creased in all the top-dressed portions and a less pronounced tendency in the 

 same direction is observed in the case of buttercups and plantain. Top-dress- 

 ing with slag meal and a potash salt was in all cases followed by an abundance 

 of clover. 



Top-dressing pastures, W. P. Brooks (Mussachu.^etls Sia. Rpf. 1910, pt. 2, 

 pp. 18-23). — These pages report the results of applieations of 500 lbs. basic 

 slag meal and 300 lbs. of low-grade sulphate of potash to land ]iastured by 

 milch cows. The author notes that the preference of the cows for the forage 

 on the treated plats resulted in their being more closely grazed late into the 

 autumn than was favorable to their best development. Nevertheless a thick 

 mat of clover appeared the following spring in place of a dull, lifeless, moss- 

 infested tnrf thickly starred with bluets (Houstovia cariilcd). 



Alfalfa in Massachusetts, W. P. Brooks (Massachusetts Sta. R.pt. 1910, pt. 2, 

 pp. 24-S4). — Directions for alfalfa growing in ]Massachusetts accompany dis- 

 cussions of the conditions essential to success with the crop and its value. 



A new species of clover resembling white clover (Trifolium repens), R. 

 VON Weinzierl (Wiener Landw. Ztg., 61 (1911), No. 1, p. 3; ahs. in Internat. 

 Inst. Agr. [Rome], Bui. Bur. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 2 (1911), No. 1, 

 pp. 90, 91). — The Vienna Seed Experiment Station receives from time to time 

 samples of seed sold as white clover (T. repens), which are in reality seed of 

 T. parviflorum, a very inferior plant. The testffi of these seeds are covered 

 with papillse instead of being smooth as in the case of the true white clover 

 (T. repens). 



Perfect flowers in maize, E. (i. Montgomery (Pop. Sei. Mo., 79 (1911), No. 

 If, pp. 3-'i6-3.'i9, figs. 6). — This article describes instances of the occurrence of 

 perfect flowers in corn, and reports observations on plants grown from seed 

 from such perfect flowered ears. 



Results obtained by crossing corn and teosinte, J. E. Van Der Stok (Teys- 

 mannia, 21 (1910), No. 1, pp. Jil-59, pi. 1; ahs. in Internat. Inst. Agr. [Rome'], 

 Bui. Bur. Agr. Intel, and Plant Diseases, 2 (1911), No. 1, p. Jf5). — The author 

 reports the results of unsuccessful attempts to cross com and teosinte and com- 

 bine the large ear of the corn with the great fertility of teosinte and its ability 

 to resist chlorosis, a disease which frequently attacks Java maize. The first 

 generation of hybrids resembled teosinte chiefly but were uniform and inter- 

 mediate in kind, while in the second generation the original characteristics had 

 all disappeared and still only intermediate forms were obtained. In the third 

 and fourth generations marked chlorotic symptoms occurred and the fruitfulness 

 and ear characteristics were still intermediate. 



Arrangement of parts in the cotton plant, O. P. Cook and R. M. Meade 

 (U. 8. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 222, pp. 26, figs. 9). — This is a study 



