350 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



HORTICULTURE. 



Experiments with fertilizers on celery, B. M. Dtjggar and L. H. 

 Bailey (New York Cornell Sta. Bui. 132, pp. 221-230, figs. 7).— This is 

 a report of an experiment conducted near Rome, New York, on muck 

 land which had been previously a half-wild meadow and had never 

 received fertilizers. Fertilizers were spread by hand in small furrows 

 on both sides of rows of celery. The varieties grown were Golden 

 Self-Blanching, Kalamazoo, and White Plume. The fertilizers used 

 were sulphate of potash, muriate of potash, dissolved South Carolina 

 rock,boneblack, nitrate of soda, and a combination of nitrate of soda, 

 sulphate of potash, and dissolved South Carolina rock. Several rows 

 of plants received no fertilizer. The number of rows in each plat, the 

 weight of fertilizers applied to each, and the weight of 6 average 

 plants in each are reported. Brief notes are given of the behavior of 

 the plants under different modes of treatment. Plants from some of the 

 plats are figured. 



The results of this test are summed up by the authors as follows: 

 " All these records show that wood ashes gave the best results, although 

 a combination of nitrate of soda, South Carolina rock, and sulphate of 

 potash promises to do well. Muriate of potash excelled the sulphate. 

 Nitrate of soda alone gave poor returns. The check (no fertilizer) 

 plats were not worth the growing." 



Chemical analvses of the soil and of an average plant from each plat 

 are given in tabular form. Nitrates were found in appreciable quanti- 

 ties in nlants fertilized with nitrate of soda and in those fertilized with 

 nitrate' of soda, sulphate of potash, and South Carolina rock. Phos- 

 phoric acid and lime were fairly constant in all the plants. Potash was 

 the most variable constituent. With one marked exception a greater 

 percentage of potash was found in the plants fertilized with it than m 

 those not so fertilized. In some samples there seemed to be evidence 

 that potash was partially replaced by soda. The soil was found to 

 show no acidity and to contain a high percentage of nitrogen, potash, 

 and phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid was in a very available con- 

 dition, but the potash was practically all unavailable, which the authors 

 say "seems to explain the excellent results which were obtained from 

 the wood ashes." 



Vegetables old and new, L. R. Taft, H. P. Gladden, and M. L. 

 Dean (Michigan Sta. Bui, 144, pp. 209-244).- The bulletin gives the 

 results of tests of several hundred varieties of vegetables in 1890. The 

 report is given partly in the form of brief notes of varieties and partly 

 in tables showing such data as yield, average weight, time of blooming 

 and maturity, etc. Data are given for 31 varieties of lettuce, 4 of kale, 2 

 of kohlrabi, 40 of cabbage, 31 of bush beans, 34 of peas, 32 of radishes, 

 31 of onions, 12 of beets, 103 of potatoes, 71 of tomatoes, 10 of squash, 

 12 of cucumbers, and 32 of sweet corn. 



