494 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



actiou of tlie siinlio-Lt in proiuotiiig the formation of fruit buds was 

 apparent/' In every case but one tliere were more buds upon the 

 branch exposed to the light, and the averages were : Limbs in sunlight, 

 182 clusters of flower buds; limbs in partial sliade, 136 clusters. By 

 skillfully shortening in and thinning tl'e branches of flat-topped trees 

 in crowded orchards their tops can be restored to a more nearly conical 

 form, light and air more freely admitted, and bearing capacity of the 

 trees often greatly increased. 



The author considers spraying essential to success in apple growing, 

 and gives a formula for Bordeaux mixture with Paris green which has 

 worked well at the station. 



The apple maggot is very injurious to ai^ples in the State, appears to 

 be increasing rapidly in numbers, attacks all varieties, and renders 

 worthless the fruit on thousands of trees of the subacid varieties. From 

 beneath -S trees in different localities soil was collected, sifted, and 

 examined for pupa^ of this maggot, and the numbers found in areas 6 

 in. square and 1 in. in depth varied from to 0. Tlie fruit was worth- 

 less in all cases where 5 or 6 jjupa? were found and only slightly wormy 

 where 1 pupa was found. It was estimated that 12,500 pup?e were 

 secreted in the soil beneath the tree of Yellow Bellflower where 5 pupae 

 were found in the area examined. The author believes that poultry 

 confined beneath the trees would materially lessen the number of pupse. 



Varieties of apples, T. J. Burrill and G. W. McCluer [Illinois 

 Sta. Bui. 45, pp. 297-348). — A brief history is given of the orchard of 

 the university from 1869; remarks upon pests, soil treatment, life of 

 trees, and identity of varieties; descriptions of 18 varieties which have 

 given most promise of usefulness and of 550 varieties (including syn- 

 onyms) which have fruited on the station farm, and a list of 304 trees 

 which were planted but did not live to bear fruit. 



The 18 selected varieties, arranged according to season, are William 

 Prince, Ked Stripe, Ilicks, Cole (Quince, Large Yellow Siberian Crab, 

 Jefferis, Sharp, Utter, Jonathan of Buler [ ?], Sweet Bellflower of Wyan- 

 dotte County [ ?], McLellan, Higby Sweet, Mansfield liusset, Westfield, 

 Coon Red, ISTed, Indiana Favorite, and Boyal Limbertwig. 



Preliminary investigation of the effect of the overflo-w of salt 

 ■water upon the health and fruitfulness of peach trees, M. H. 

 Beckwith {Delaicare ISia. Rpt. isorj^pp. 150-1^2). — High tides have at 

 different times overflowed many j)each orchards in the State, aud it was 

 claimed that such orchards were fruitful when the others in the State 

 were barren, and that they were free from yellows. The author inves- 

 tigated the subject and found it to be a fact "that orchards in the 

 vicinity of large ponds and streams of water were the ones i)roduciug 

 a crop of peaches and in very many instances the land had been over- 

 flowed by salt water,'' but he thinks this due to the protective presence 

 of the water during a general freeze which occurred at the time of one 

 overflow aud which injured the trees not thus protected. 



