HORTICULTURE. 743 



IS years for 3 months; the amount of water required for irrigation; storage of water; 

 small irrigation plants and the cost of the same; irrigation in humid r.s. arid districts; 

 furrow irritration; and flooding small heds of plants. Experiments at the station 

 show a gain from irrigation with a number of crops as follows: Early cabbage, 31.3 

 percent; onions, 16.9 per cent; sweet corn, 51.5 per cent; sweet potatoes, 72.6 per 

 cent; Lima beans, pole, 23.8 per cent; watermelons, 44 per cent; white potatoes, 

 36.4 per cent; and busli Limas, 8.8 per cent. 



In some experiments carried out by G. A. Mitchell under the .station auspices 

 irrigation regularly promoted earliness of maturity with Early Jersey Wakefield 

 cabbage and increased the proiits $18.24 per acre. With tomatoes the profits were 

 increased about $18, with watermelons $25, and with sweet potatoes $43.68 per acre 

 by irrigation. 



Experiments in the crossing of plants, B. D. Halsted {Xeir Jersey/ Stas. Rpt. 

 1900, ]>p. 4;?S-447, pis. 7). — A report is given of attempts made in crossing plants, the 

 experiments having been made within the past 2 years. Cucumbers, Lima beans, 

 tomatoes, sweet corn, and salsify have been successfully crossed. Two crosses of 

 White Spine and White Pearl cucumbers were successfully made and plants grown 

 from each. The fruits of the crosses showed the influence of both parents, but they 

 appeared much more nearly like the White Spine. The cro.sses with Lima beans 

 were made between the varieties Burpee and Henderson. The resultant crosses, of 

 which 20 were obtained, showed in the size of plants that they were midway between 

 the parent plants. The vigor of many of the plants was remarkable. In the com- 

 binations secured it was desired to obtain a lietter bearing variety than Burpee, and 

 the points desired have been obtained, l)ut the ([uality remains to be fixed. Experi- 

 ments are reported in which an upright growing variety of tomato and one with 

 large reclining vines were crossed. The first variety produced red fruit of medium 

 size, the second a large yellow fruit. A large number of seedlings were produced, 

 and great differences were noted among the plants in size, color, form of foliage, etc. 

 The product obtained from a yellow fruit resulting from a cross of the Dwarf Cham- 

 pion on a Golden Sunrise was a red fruit indicating a cross, although the color was 

 not of the same tint as that of the staminate parent. The product of the reverse 

 cross was quite uniform in all respects, all the fruits being red. Two plants were 

 obtaine^l which seemed to be exceptional in their characters; one was from the first 

 lot of those from red fruits. The fruitfulness was far less than surrounding plants, 

 and the fruit was smaller and almost seedless. The flowers were larger than usual 

 and the foliage somewhat mottled. The second plant was almo.st gigantic in size of 

 stems and foliage. It com})ined the leaf characters of the 2 parent plants, and the 

 flowers were of an unusually large size. One of the most remarkable facts was the 

 smallness of the fruit, averaging only about an inch in diameter. The yellow variety 

 of tomato used sometimes shows fruit more or less blotched with red, but it is sug- 

 gested that the redness of the yellow fruits is not a result of crossing with the red 

 variety. 



Experiments in crossing sweet corn are continued from the previous year (E. S. R., 

 12, p. 353). The primary object of the experiments was to test the susce[)tibility of 

 the varieties Black Mexican, Stowell Evergreen, Egyptian, Stabler Nonpareil, and 

 First of All, to bacterial iliseases and corn smut. A nund)er of crosses were inci- 

 dentally obtained, wliich are reported upon at some length. The crosses indicate an 

 increased vigor of the plant, althougii a striking exception was noted in the case of 

 black grains upon an ear of Egyptian. Pink grains from Egyptian gave a very pro- 

 lific crop of corn of remarkably uniform appearance, with light, dark, and pink grain- 

 thoroughly mixed. Subsequent plantings of these varieties have been made but the 

 varieties'are not yet establishcul. The results of this season's work seem to indicate 

 that there is a much greater influence of the male plant than the female on the style 

 of the ear and color of grains. 



21U)4-No. H— 02 4 



