224 EXPERIMENT STATION BECOKD. [Vol.37 



Stimulation and injury to plants by acids, I. Onodeka (Ber. Ohara hist. 

 Landw. For sell., 1 {1916), No. 1, pp. 53-110, pis. 2). — Having made a study of 

 the effects of acids on the germination and growth of several cereals and 

 legumes, the results of which are tabulated, the author states that lactic acid 

 is almost harmless to growth. Formic acid stimulates germination in barley, 

 but hinders growth in rice and clover. The effects of hydrochloric aciJ were 

 decided, but it was surpassed, as regards root in.iury, by butyric acid. Nitric 

 acid was generally less injurious than the other acids tested, favoring con- 

 siderably, in dilute concentrations, both germination and growth in rice. 

 Hydrochloric and sulphuric acids strongly stimulated germination and growth, 

 but tended to kill the .seedlings eventually. 



Acids in moderate concentrations generally tend to produce stimulation, also 

 hastening the attainment of maturity in the plant. Longitudinal growth is 

 more particularly encouraged by acids than is growth in thickness. The in- 

 crease of growth of plants in dilute acids generally continues longer in the 

 leave.s than in the roots. 



The various acids are classified according to their injurious effects on 

 plants. 



Frost and alterations in leaves of trees, G. Arnaud (Bui. Soc. Path. Veg. 

 France, 1 {1914), No. 1, pp. 21-25, figs. 2). — A study was made of a leaf injury 

 of chestnuts in Paris, which had been ascribed to the influence of tar. The 

 author considers it due to cold weather In spring, in some cases accompanying 

 or conditioning attacks of certain fungi on the leaves. 



Effect of environmental conditions upon the number of leaves and the 

 character of the inflorescence of tobacco plants, H. A. Allakd {Amcr. Jour. 

 Bot., S {1916), No. 9, pp. 493-501, pis. 4). — In a study of very severely stunted 

 tobacco plants It was found that the average number of nodes produced above 

 the cotyledons, exclusive of the branches of the terminal whorl, remained con- 

 stant under all conditions, but that the size of the inflorescence was reduce<l 

 by unfavorable conditions. Extreme stunting may result in suppression of the 

 branches of the terminal whorl, the inflorescence being reiluced to the terminal 

 bloom. 



The shedding of flower buds in cotton, S. C. Habland (irc«/ Indian Bui., 

 16 {1916), No. 1. pp. 72-7S). — The author has studied the shedding of buds by 

 cotton to test the truth of the statement that if West Indian native cottons be 

 sown out of season they will refuse to bloom until the proper flowering time, 

 November to May. 



It is stated that West Indian native and Seredo cottons from Brazil exhibited 

 periodicity, normally producing no flowers during a period extending roughly 

 from June to September. Such types as upland and Sea Island showed no 

 such periodicity. 



Shedding was not greatly influenced by root conditions or rainfall. It was 

 shown by the Fi generation of a cross between Sea Island and West Indian 

 native cotton, the presence of the habit being thus dominant to its absence in 

 this cross. The Fi progeny of upland and West Indian native cotton did not 

 shed their buds, the absence of the habit being dominant in this case. 



A correlation is suggested between resistance to cotton leaf blister-mite 

 {Enophyes gossypii) and periodicity in flowering. 



On the genetics of crinkled dwarf rogues in Sea Island cotton, I, S. C. 

 Habland {Wc-it Indian BuL, 16 {1916), No. 1, pp. S2-S4, fig. 7).— The author 

 noticed in 1915 in a plat of Sea Island cotton made up of the progeny of single 

 plant selections since 1910, certain rogue plants showing reduction in size of 

 all the vegetative parts and in the seed weight, also crinkling, mosaic, and 

 raggedness of edges In the leaves, extreme development of the sympodial habit. 



