1917] HORTICULTURE. 341 



In conducting the experiment seed of a number of common garden vegetables 

 wbich had been grown in the North was imported. A portion of the imported 

 seed was liept in viable condition until the experiment was concluded or until 

 the seed was used up by placing it in closed jars which were kept dry by placing 

 in the bottom a few ounces of calcium chlorid. The imported seed and home- 

 grown seed from succeeding generations were planted in beds which were side 

 by side. In order to eliminate as far as possible the factor of varying weather 

 conditions simultaneous plantings were made of as many different generations 

 as possible. 



Plantings made of peppers, such as are commonly grown in Porto Rico, side by 

 side with varieties imported from the North showed that the Porto Rican types 

 are much more productive and therefore more desirable than imported varieties. 

 In forty plantings of beans, including nine generations, no indications that 

 advanced generations were inferior to earlier ones were observed. As a rule 

 plantings made in March gave large crops, while those made in other months, 

 including June, September, November, December, and January, gave small crops. 

 During a period of five years thirty-two plantings of okra were made, including 

 eight generations, without any deterioration in the growth and production of the 

 advanced generations. Similar results were secured with tomatoes. In the 

 work with lettuce no degeneration was noted for successive generations, but 

 owing to the difiiculty of producing seed during seasons of heavy rain and 

 because of the rapid loss of viability in the seed, it is believed that it will be 

 necessary to import the seed of this crop. In all vegetable plantings the season 

 at which the planting was made had a very pronounced elfect on the yield, it 

 being the predominant factor influencing production. 



The results are given of germination tests of seed exposed to the air and of 

 seed kept in containers with calcium chlorid. The method of preserving the 

 seed by using calcium chlorid as a drier was so satisfactory that it is recom- 

 mended for general use. 



Managing the orchard, J. G. Moobe {Wisconsin Sta. Bui. 269 {1916), pp. 

 47, figs. 26). — A treatise on orchard management with special reference to Wis- 

 consin conditions. Information is given relative to selection of soils and sites, 

 planning the orchard, varieties, planting operations, pruning the young trees, 

 soil management, cover crops and fertilization, pruning the bearing orchard, and 

 spraying practices for different fruits. 



Winterkilling' of peach buds, P. Thayer {Mo. Bui. Ohio Sta., 1 {1916), No. 

 10, pp. 311, 312). — Tabular data are given showing the recoi'ds of observations 

 made in the spring of 1914 and that of 1916 with respect to the amount of 

 winterkilling found in the variety orchard at the station. 



The observations, as a v/hole, indicate that the buds on young trees are more 

 apt to be injured than those on mature trees. Winter hardiness does not mean 

 so much resistance to low temperatures as it does resistance to the effects of 

 the January thaw, wliich starts the buds into life, thus leaving them susceptible 

 to the next moderately cold snap. A'arieties appear to behave differently under 

 various conditions. The relative hardiness of varieties for a winter continuously 

 cold may be extremely different from that for a favorable winter. 



Practical fig culture in Arizona, W. H. Lawrence (^In^^ona Sta. Bui. 77 

 {1916), pp. Jt3. pi. 1, flys. 15). — This bulletin includes the results of a general 

 field survey of fig culture in Arizona, together with the results of cultural in- 

 vestigations conducted by the station. W^ith the results of the survey and in- 

 vestigations as a hiisis, directions are given for growing figs, including infoi'nia- 

 tion relative to the various classes of lij^-^, method of fruiting, climatic require- 

 ments, soil, selecting varieties, propagation, arrangement of varieties in the 



