472 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



from the manure. An instance is cited in which a large bed of asters and Shasta 

 daisies was thus blighted within 12 hours after the manure was applied. In another 

 case seedling honeysuckles were badly injured by an early fall application of stable 

 compost. 



Experiments in these two cases indicated "that the injurious effects of ammonia 

 from compost could be counteracted by immediately wetting plants and manure, or 

 by mixing a considerable quantity of dry earth with the manure to absorb the 

 ammonia." The author considers it doubtful whether it is often necessary or 

 profitable to apply sufficient quantities of manure to growing plants to thus injure 

 them. An instance of injury from this cause to chrysanthemums in pots is noted 

 and of a bed of lettuce under glass which suffered more or less from the same cause. 



Experiments with lawn grasses, B. D. Halsted and J. A. Kelsey {New Jersey 

 Stas. Rpt. 1903, pp. 492,493). — A report is given of the conditions of the grass plats, 

 which have been maintained at the station since 1896. The condition of these plats, 

 which are 9 in number, shows that the Rhode Island bent grass has maintained its 

 rank as the most satisfactory species for lawn grasses for 4 years. The Kentucky 

 blue grass is also very satisfactory, the other species proving less adapted to their 

 surroundings, and the red top and perennial rye seem to be unsuited to their 

 conditions. 



FORESTRY. 



Report of the committee on forestry, 1903, J. T. Rothrock {Pennsylvania 

 Dept. Ayr. Rpt. 1903, pp. 509-513). — It is claimed that the forestry policy of Pennsyl- 

 vania is safely established, and for some time will be confined to an extension of 

 what has already been begun. Work has been carried on in the propagation of forest 

 seedlings and considerable transplanting of these seedlings has been done. 



Attention is called to a recent law which authorizes the establishment of buildings 

 for the purpose of training State foresters. The object of this school is to train men 

 in any branch of forestry, and during the year 15 students were enrolled, who 

 devoted half their time to study and the other half to forest work, which consisted 

 in a considerable degree of patrolling the reserves to protect against fire, trespassing, 

 etc. This is believed to be the first mounted State guard that any State possesses 

 for its rural districts. 



Forest thinning and its results, W. F. Hubbard {Forestry andlrrig., 10 {1904), 

 No. 7, pp. 313-319, figs. 2). — An account is given of some results of forest thinning, 

 the illustrations of systematic thinnings being drawn from the forest belonging to the 

 Forest Academy at Tharand and at the Austrian station in Mariabrunn. In the first 

 case the stand was principally Scotch pine and in the second Austrian black pine. 

 The stand of trees per acre, diameter, height, volume, etc., are given, showing not 

 only the standing timber, but the amount removed from time to time. 



Based upon these observations, the author draws some conclusions relative to forest 

 thinning in this country, and he applies the classification to American conditions 

 with some modifications. An illustration is given showing the proposed thinning of 

 a 27-year-old stand of white pine. 



Street forestry, F. Shonnard ( Yonkers, New York: Department of Public Works, 

 1903, pp. 48, pis. 13). — A report is given on the selection, planting, cultivation, and 

 care of street shade trees, and particular attention is paid to the injuries to trees from 

 electric and gas services. 



An experiment is reported in which the author investigated the injurious effect of 

 illuminating gas by introducing the gas at the rate of 1.07 cu. ft. per hour into a large 

 pot containing a growing lemon tree. The effect of the gas on the foliage was notice- 

 able on the third day, and on the eighth day the leaves were curling and dropping 

 from all parts of the tree and sap was being exuded in a considerable quantity from 

 the bark on its trunk and branches. At this time the gas was turned off, the tree 



