48 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



work supplemental to that reported during the years 1898 to 1902 on sweet com 

 selection (E. S. R., 15, p. 151); experiments on the propagation of huckleberries, or 

 blueberries by stem cuttings, root cuttings, and root grafts; crossing experiments 

 with Ilex and with strawberries; and miscellaneous work like the improvement of 

 ^clover by selection; the use of gasoline as a remedy against enemies of the squash, 

 cucumber, and pumpkin; spraying peaches with Paris green and Bordeaux mixture 

 and various methods of treating posts to increase their durability, all of which are 

 noted elsewhere in this number. 



Further work in fertilizing such flowers as phlox, balsam, branching aster, carmine. 

 peach blossom, and 10 weeks' stock with nitrogen potash, or sugar, respectively, 

 resulted in showing no influence whatever for these different materials in intensify- 

 ing the color of the flowers produced. Since these results agree with those of the 

 previous year it is believed fair to assume "that under ordinary field conditions any 

 reasonable application of nitrate of soda, of muriate of potash, or of sugar will not 

 materially intensify or reduce red color in flowers." 



In the sweet corn experiment selection has proceeded along two lines. "In one 

 line seed has been chosen from the lower ear of stalks bearing the largest number of 

 ears; in the other case from the upper ear of stalks bearing the largest number of ears." 

 The results secured in 1902 were in accord with those of previous years, and show 

 that more progress may be expected by selecting seed from the upper ear than from 

 the lower one. The notion, therefore, that to increase the number of ears, one 

 should choose always from the lower one because that is the last one developed, is 

 shown to be erroneous. Further work along this line will therefore be discarded. 

 Whatever further selection may be made will be from upper ears or from well- 

 developed ears only. 



The propagating experiments with blueberries were made with the swamp or 

 high-bush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum) . Seeds of this blueberry germinate 

 readily, but growth is very slow. Attempts were therefore made to see if it could 

 not be propagated in the greenhouae by root or stem cuttings or by root grafts. 

 Such material as moss, sand, garden soil, soil taken from about the roots of wild 

 parent plants, and combinations of these were used as materials in which to start 

 the plants. The cuttings formed shoots readily, but in only a few cases did they 

 form roots. In fact, the main difficulty seemed to lie in inducing the formation of 

 roots. 



Very promising results were secured with both root grafts and root cuttings where 

 these were started in moss in which soil taken from about the wild plants was mingled 

 and moderate bottom heat used. In all cases better results were secured when the 

 plants were rooted in moss and soil than when rooted in sand and soil. From the 

 results secured in these experiments the author is hopeful that it may be possible to 

 use miscellaneous New England blueberry roots with selected scions for propagating 

 blueberries, and while such stock can not be sold cheap, it may, nevertheless, be 

 produced at a fair price. 



The behavior of plants now growing at the station in cultivated ground indicates 

 that while Ihey may be slow in gaining a foothold they grow more rapidly as time 

 goes on, and there seems to be no reason why they should not give good results in 

 garden culture. Attempts to cross Gaylussacia resinosa and Vaccinium corymbosum 

 failed. In breeding experiments with Ilex, attempts have been made to cross Ilex 

 verlicillata, the winter berry, with Ilei glabra, the ink berry, the purpose being to 

 combine the red fruit of the winter berry with the evergreen foliage of the ink 

 berry. Thus far the different crosses have resulted in failure. 



No results of striking importance have yet been secured in the work with straw- 

 berry seedlings. 



Miscellaneous horticultural work ( Wisconsin Sta. Rpt. 1903, pp. 368-390, fig. 

 1). — This is a summary of the following articles, previously published by the station: 



