HORTICULTURE. 753 



tables and by means of illustrations. In 1890, 3 rows each of Ben Davis 

 and Grimes Golden apple trees were planted. The plantation was 

 divided into 5 plats, 1 of which was cultivated clean, 1 was cropped 

 with oats, 1 with corn, 1 with clover, and 1 was seeded with blue grass. 

 The treatment of the plats has since been continued as at the outset. 

 Typical trees from each of the plats are illustrated. "The marked 

 inferiority of the trees from the oats and grass plats, particularly the 

 latter, may be seen at a glance,- while the superiority of the one from 

 the clean cultivation plat, as regards vigorous and healthy appearance 

 and wealth of foliage, is almost equally apparent." The trees in the plat 

 receiving clean cultivation and the corn plat proved superior to those 

 in the grass plat in character of foliage and size of trunk. Measure- 

 ments show the trees on the corn plat to be slightly larger than those 

 on the clean cultivated plat, but the authors think it would be an error 

 to conclude that cropping an orchard with corn is beneficial. The 

 root- system of the trees in the clean cultivated plat was compact and 

 deep in the soil, while in the other plats the roots ranged nearer 

 the surface and extended farther. Of the 5 methods tried, the results 

 on the whole indicate that clean cultivation is the best, and that crop- 

 ping with corn, clover, oats, and grass are less desirable in the order 

 named, and that "under no circumstances should hay or any grain crop 

 be grown on orchard land." The percentage of moisture iu the first 27 

 in. of the soil of the 5 plats was shown by analyses made during 

 October 1897 to be as follows: Clean cultivated 12 per cent, corn 12 

 per cent, clover 10 per cent, oats 8 per cent, grass 8 per cent. During 

 1897 the main orchard at the station was cultivated 13 times after the 

 spring plowing, at a cost of $16 per acre, or 32 cts. per tree. The tools 

 employed were the ordinary plow, roller, and disk, and spring- tooth and 

 smoothing harrows. Eemarks are made on the methods of cultivation 

 and on the preparation of the soil for planting orchard trees. 



The green gage group of plums, F. A. Waugh (Gard. Chron., 24 

 (1898), Wo. 627, pp. 465, 466). — A history of the group with a discussion 

 of its botanical relationships and position. This study grew out of the 

 author's attempt to trace the 14 varieties of Prunus domestica distin- 

 guished by Linnaims (E. S. B., 10, p. 640). The green gage group is be- 

 lieved to be the one that gives the best key to the horticultural evolution 

 of the whole species. A chronological conspectus of the more important 

 references to these plums from 1671 to the present time, and a bibliogra- 

 phy of the group in America are presented. Their progressive distri- 

 bution in Italy, France, and England is traced. It is believed that the 

 group was first introduced into America from England where it was 

 known as Green Gage, and later importations of the same tribe were 

 made from France under the name Eeine Claude. At the present time 

 the author finds 2 principal varieties of this type in the market: (1) 

 Green Gage, with dwarfish tree, fruit small and early ; and (2) Eeine 

 Claude de Bavay, which is a stronger growing tree, with fruit later, 



