42 EXPEKIMEISTT STATION EECOED. 



work by various investigators along tliis line and gives results of Ms own 

 worlc to discover the cause of the yellow-berry. 



Fertilization with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in single applications 

 in the production of three varieties of wheat during 1913 and 1914 forms the 

 basis of the following conclusions : " The appearance of yellow or white, mealy 

 or half -mealy, or spotted kernels in wheat, otherwise without apparent blemish 

 and known as yellow-berry is not due to over-ripeness, nor to exposure after cut- 

 ting, nor to the action of fungi, nor is it a ' tendency ' heritable in the wheat, as 

 has been claimed by different authors. We have no substantiation of the claim 

 sometimes made that climatic conditions favorably influence the development 

 of or cause yellow-berry. Yellow-berry can be very much lessened or entirely 

 prevented by the application of a sufficient quantity of available nitrogen. 

 Yellow-berry can be greatly intensified or increased by the application of avail- 

 able potassium. The application of available phosphorus has no appreciable 

 effect upon its prevalance. Yellow-berry is not indicative of an exhausted soil, 

 that is, one which will not produce abundant yields. Yellow-berry indicates 

 that potassium is present in excess of what is necessary to form a ratio to the 

 available nitrogen present, advantageous to the formation of a hard, flinty 

 kernel. Yellow-berry should not be mistaken for or confused with black-ended 

 berries or brown or other discolorations in the berries. These affections are 

 not general affections as the yellow-berry is and are not produced by the same 

 cause. 



"Yellow-berry is under the control of the grower. If there be suflacient 

 difference in the price of grain produced he can control it with a margin of 

 profit. The means at his disposal for its control are (1) the judicious use of 

 sodic nitrate. (2) the thorough cultivation of his soil with the application of 

 nitrogenous manures, (3) a rotation of crops in which a clover and possibly 

 other legumes precede the wheat, (4) fallow cultivation. These observations 

 apply to all of our western soils, rich in potassium and relatively, not abso- 

 lutely, poor in available nitrogen." 



HORTICULTURE. 



Summer treatment of greenhouse soil, W. J. and S. N. Gbeen (OMo 8ta. 

 Bui. 281 (1915), pp. 53-68, figs. 7).— This bulletin gives the results of experi- 

 ments started at the station greenhouses in the fall of 1908 to determine the 

 practical difference between various methods of treating the soil during the 

 idle summer months. Suggestions are also given relative to sterilizing green- 

 house soil, the preparation of sod compost and manure, the use of commercial 

 fertilizers and lime, and the summer utilization of greenhouses. 



The test of various methods of summer treatment was continued through six 

 seasons. In one plat the soil was renewed each year ; in another plat a manure 

 mulch was applied after removing the spring crop ; a wheat straw mulch was 

 used on a third plat, both of the mulch plats being kept well watered during the 

 summer; and a fourth plat was allowed to dry out. The manure mulch was 

 worked into the soil previous to planting the fall crop, but most of the straw 

 had to be removed as it had decayed but little. A covering of fresh manure 

 was spaded into the dry soil previous to planting in the fall. 



The new soil plat gave the best results with tomatoes followed by the manure 

 mulch plat. The straw mulch plat showed a rapid decline in yields, and the 

 dry plat not only gave the lowest yields but was the only one to show a seriously 

 diseased condition of the plants. 



The test of lettuce crops, however, gave different results. The weight of 

 lettuce from new soil iilats was less at any time than that grown on manure 



