HORTICULTURE. 1089 



distinct names were fennd to Iw synonymous. In some cases varieties wLiicli 

 liave been reported as inferior in other sections were found to be superior at tlie 

 station, and vice versa. Altliou^li tlie station plats were frozen to the iL^round 

 in the winter of ir)0(i-7, the root systems were for the most part unharmed, and 

 further studies are to be made rehitive to tlie identification of varieties. No 

 results are reported relative to the work with the Smyrna figs, since the t'apri- 

 lifrs necessary for the colonization of the Blastophaga have not come into 

 bearing. 



New December pear {Gard. Chron., 3. ser., 42 (1907), No. 1006, p. .'I'l'h 

 fiy. 1). — A description and an illustration are given of a new pear recently 

 exhibited at the meeting of the Koyal Horticultural Society and which received 

 the award of merit for its good quality as a winter dessert fruit. The pear, 

 which has been named Beurre de Naghan, is described as above medium size, 

 the largest fruits weighing i lb. The skin is yellowish green, but more or less 

 covereil with minute blackish spots. The flesh is white, melting, very juicy, 

 and free from grittiuess. 



The relations of weather and soil conditions to the fruit industry of 

 southeastern Alabama, F. H. Cakdoza {Alabama Tuskcgcc Sta. Bui. 11, pp. IJ/, 

 flfi!<. 'i). — This is a popular discussion of this subject intended to encourage 

 farmers to pay more attention to weather and soil conditions. 



The census of fruit trees on the farms (Prcuss. Stat is., 1900, No. 172, III, 

 pp. A'A7/+y.J,J).— Detailed statistical data, based on the census of 1900 but 

 issued in 1007, are given showing the number and kinds of fruit trees in the 

 various provinces of Prussia and in Waldeck and Pyrmont. The list comprises 

 trees grown both on fruit farms and elesewhere, such as along the roads, high- 

 ways, railway embankments, dikes, etc. In the introduction an account is 

 given of the methods of gathering and compiling the data, together with the 

 more important deductions derived therefrom. 



Report of the botanist, B. D. Halsted, E. J. Owen, and N. D. Shore {New 

 Jcrsci/ Stas. Rpt. 1907, pp. 257-379, ph. 27). — The breeding and selection of 

 truck crops, which has been conducted and reported on for several years (E. S. 

 K., 10, p. 646), was continued as the principal work of the botanical department. 

 The progeny of a large number of crosses of several varieties of sweet corn, 

 tomatoes, eggplants, Lima beans, snap beans, summer squashes, winter squashes, 

 peas, and salsify grown on the testing grounds are described and discussed. 

 Excerpts from reports on the seed of station vegetable novelties, sent out in the 

 spring for testing purposes, are also given. Other lines of work reported in- 

 clude experiments in thinning beans, attempts to graft reciprocally tomatoes 

 with "garden huckleberry" (Solanum nignim), eggplant, and other tomatoes, 

 and self-pollination exiieriments with eggplants, tomatoes. Datura, and morn- 

 ing glories, A study was also made of the range of variation existing in the 

 mayweed or "feted camomile" {Anthcuiis cotula). 



Of the sweet-corn crosses. Golden Bantam-Premier, was the most productive. 

 The i)lauts are strong and the ears of good shape and fine quality. It is be- 

 lieved that this sort may prove suitable for the second early crop. In the 

 Adams-Crosby cross the sweet corn has now been separated from the flinty 

 grains of the Adams, while the plants retain much of the sturdiness of that 

 parent together with its plump ears and many straight rows of grains. Crosses 

 of Golden Bantam, an early yellow sweet corn, with Country Gentleman, 

 Stowell Evergreen, and others jtromise to combine the desiral)le qualities of both 

 parents. The ears of the Malakosby and of the Malanio sweet corn show two 

 quite distinct shades of color, one a straw and the other a pink. The two colors 

 do not appear on the same ear, however. Three plantings were made of seed of 



48025— No, 11—08 4 



