1918.] HORTICULTURE. 639 



" In velvet bean meal the most abundant recognizable elements are : ( 1 ) The 

 palisade cells of the testa; (2) the sclerenchyma cells of the pod; (3) the 

 hairs of the pod; and (4) an occasional hourglass cell. Most of the fibers are 

 broken, but with careful examination nearly all of the structures may be 

 found. The most important elements to determine that the material is com- 

 posed of velvet beans are the sclerenchyma cells and the hairs of the pods." 



Seed Reporter (U. S. Dept. Agr., Seed Rptr., 1 {1918), No. 3, pp. S).— This 

 number contains the usual statistics and tabulated data on supplies, probable 

 demands, movement, and market conditions of seed stocks, including seed 

 sweet corn for canners, millet, velvet beans, seed potatoes for the South, onion 

 sets (Chicago district), timothy, red and alsike clover, and alfalfa seed ship- 

 ments, Sudan grass, broom corn, grain and forage sorghums in Kansas, Okla- 

 homa, Texas, and Missouri, imports of forage plant seed permitted entry into 

 the United States, and clover and timothy receipts and shipments for Chicago, 

 Milwaukee, and Toledo markets. 



Brief explanatory notes are given on the preliminary garden-seed survey 

 made November 1, 1917, and previously noted (E. S. R., 38, p. 441). An appeal 

 to the corn growers of the United States for cooperation with county. State, 

 and national agencies with respect to needs and supplies of seed corn is made 

 by C. P. Hartley. The development and production of pure Pima (Egyptian 

 long staple) cotton seed by a cooperative cotton growers' association in the 

 Salt River Valley, Ariz., is described by T. H. Kearney. 



HORTICULTTJEE. 



[Progress report on horticultural investigations] (Missouri Sta. Bui. 151 

 (1917), pp. Jf6-53, figs. 5). — In continuation of previous reports (E. S. R., 38, 

 p. 743) concise statements are given of progress made along various lines of 

 horticultural work during the year ended June 30, 1917. 



Among the investigations in charge of J. C. Whltten, fruit nutrition studies 

 were continued during the year with strawberries, peaches, and apples. The 

 experimental work with strawberries was limited to applications of lime at 

 the rate of 500 lbs. per acre. The lime was put on during the growing season 

 of 1916. The limed plants developed better foliage and mildew seemed more 

 prevalent on these plants, probably due to the heavier foliage. There was 

 very little difference in yield between the limed and unlimed plats. Data are 

 given on yield of varieties included in the experiment. 



The peach crop was almost completely destroyed by the cold winter of 1916. 

 It was shown, however, that the trees receiving nitrogen alone or in combina- 

 tion are more vigorous than trees not so treated. More trees are alive in the 

 nitrogen plats than in the other plats. 



A portion of the fertilizer work with apples was discontinued owing to the 

 prevalence of blight, which was more serious on the fertilized trees than on 

 unfertilized. Observations on the yield of apple trees grown from selected 

 buds continued to show no superiority of trees from good parentage over trees 

 from poor parentage. Examinations of buds in winter for forecasting probable 

 bloom again demonstrated that with a little practice and observation one is 

 able to predict very accurately the amount of bloom that a given branch of 

 the tree will produce. 



The work of breeding apples for late-blooming habit was continued. Seed- 

 lings were grown from previous crosses and a number of new crosses made. 

 In the treatment of apple canker diseases the eradication of apple canker from 

 the horticultural grounds by cleaning out and disinfecting the canker wounds 

 has been highly successful. 



