HORTICULTURE. 877 



the related variety, the Wickson, a hybrid between the Japanese and Prunvs simonii." 

 The Japanese varieties are extremely fertile when cross-pollinated with other varie- 

 ties of their own <rroup or with the native plums and probably most other plums. 

 With these plums, however, as with other fruits, "self-sterility obtains only in a 

 relative degree. Under extremely favorable circumstances, with all conditions just 

 right, doubtless they might be aide to set a considerable number of fruits without 

 cross-pollination." 



The only safe way, however, in planting out plums is to assume self-sterility, and 

 to plant not more than from .'! to 5 rows of one variety in a solid block, placing the 

 varieties which bloom approximately at the same time alongside each other. 



Pickling green olives, J. F. Revalk ( California Fruit Grower, SI ( 1905 I, No. a?.;, 

 //. S ). — The author carried on experiments for :; years in the pickling of green olives. 

 He was able to obtain large, firm, bright,, even-colored fruit that kept indefinitely 

 and that could not he told from the genuine Queen olive except by taste. In this 

 respect, however, they were very much inferior to the genuine Queen brand. 



The author further studied the matter of pickling green olives in Spain. He found 

 that in the vicinity of Seville the olives are brought in from the groves in baskets, 

 sometimes a distance of a day's journey by rail. They are at once put in cement 

 tanks about 5 ft. square by 4 ft. deep ami covered witli a solution of caustic soda (3° 

 Baume) and kept immersed for from 6 to 9 hours. The soda solution is then with- 

 drawn and the tank filled with water. 



After soaking for 4 to <> hours longer the fruit is put into casks which are headed 

 up and tilled with a brine made of salt and water of 8° strength on the salino- 

 meter. They are then rolled out into the open courtyard, bunghole up, where they 

 undergo a kind of fermentation for a couple of weeks. At the end of this time the 

 lye taste has entirely disappeared and the olives are ready for sorting and packing, 

 after which they are again packed in the original casks and covered with a brine of 

 26°. Practically this same method of pickling was employed by the author with 

 California fruit but with negative results, and he is of the opinion that the fault lies 

 in the fruit rather than in the process. 



From the autlu >r's i >1 iservations in Spain and his experience in California he derives 

 the following conclusions: "Queen and Manzanilla olives can be grown in this State, 

 but can not lie cured to resemble the Spanish product in flavor. They are not good 

 varieties to pickle ripe. For oil making they are inferior to other varieties grown 

 here." 



Strawberry culture in Mississippi, A. B. McKay (Mississippi Nu. Circ. 19, 

 l>]i. i;). — Popular directions for the culture of strawberries in Mississippi. 



The influence of grafting on the composition -of grapes, G. Curtel (Compt. 

 Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], 139 (1904), No. II, pp. 491-493).— Data, secured in the 

 physical and chemical analyses of grapes of the Pinot variety, grafted on Riparia 

 and also grown on its own roots, and of the Camay variety, grafted on Solonis and 

 also grown on its own roots, are tabulated and discussed. 



An appreciable difference is noticeable in the composition of the wines made from 

 grapes grown on grafted vines and on their own roots. The fruits of the grafted 

 vines were larger and the skin thinner with more abundant pulp; the seeds were 

 less numerous but larger; The juice, while more abundant, was ordinarily more acid 

 and contained a greater quantity of sugar and nitrogenous material, though less rich 

 in phosphates, tannin, and coloring material. The coloring material of the grafted 

 vines was also less staMe. Two facts were especially prominent — the unstability of 

 the color and excess of wine oxydase of the grafted Pinot variety, and the greater 

 abundance of nitrogenous material in the must. 



The role of seeds, pellicles, and stems in wine making, P. Pacottet (Rev. 

 ViL, 22 (1904), Nos. 568, pp. 485-488; 571, pp. 581-584, J' 1 - /)• — Commencing in 1901 

 and continuing to 1903, experiments were made to determine in each instance the 



