l!>-'0] I'lELD CROPS. 329 



Tlie Ustilaginales of Indiana, II. S. .Ia( KSdN {J'ruc. Jnd. Acad. Sri., lUH, 

 pp. ll'J-l.U). — Tlio prcstMit list of Usliliiu'iiiiiU's or siiiiits of Indiana, based 

 primarily on material of the author's herbarium and that of the Purdue Experi- 

 ment Station, inchides a total of 47 species on about the same number of hosts. 



Resistance of Mucor zygotes, M. NoniNACiKL (/'roe. Ind. Acad. ScL, 1017, 

 pp. 181-1S7). — In the fall of 1916, experiments were betrun to test out the re- 

 sistance of Mucor zygotes and spores to desiccation, to heat, and to different 

 chemicals. The work and results are briefly detailed. The practical result of 

 the work is that in atteniptin<i to kill ilucor, the surest way is to use moisture, 

 not nuich heat being necessary in this case, whereas if moisture is not present 

 a high temperature and long application will be required. 



Reaction of culture media, H. A. Noyks {Pioc. Ind. Acad. ScL, 1917, pp. 

 I.'f9-1G2, fig. 1). — The purpose of this paper is to point out some factors in the 

 making of culture media and in the controlling of reactions that are as im- 

 portant as the method by which the reaction is determined. Discussion is given 

 of the so-calletl acidity due to crude methods of making metlia. 



Boulllou cubes as a substitute for beef extract or meat in nutrient media, 

 Z. N. AVyant (.Jour. Bart.. 5 (1920), No. 2, pp. 1S9, 190)'— From the results of 

 comparative tests and from practical experience of nearly a year, the author 

 recommends the use of ordinary bouillon cubes in general laboratory work 

 when- ordinary beef extract or meat media has been formerly used. The cubes 

 are used in the proportion of 1 or l..") cubes per liter. 



FIELD CROPS. 



The work [with field crops] of the Yuma Reclamation Project Experi- 

 ment Farm in 1918, R. E. Blair (U. .S'. Dept. A (jr., Dcpt. Circ. 75 (1920), pp. 

 26-42, 5S, 59, 60, 61, figs. //). — This work, including variety and culture tests 

 with cotton, alfalfa, grain and forage sorghums, flax, field peas, velvet beans, 

 horse beans, Giant Bermuda grass, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, was con- 

 tinuetl along the same general lines as previously noted (E. S. R., 40, p. 433). 



The yields in variety tests of cotton, conducted in 1916, 1917, and 1918, were 

 compared with the yields of ratooned plats in 1918. The average yield of 

 seed cotton per acre of 24 varieties under different tests was 1,626 lbs. from 

 the planted crop in 1917 as compared with 1,543 lbs. from the ratooneil crop in 

 1918. The planted crop in 1918 yielded an average of 1,531 lbs. of seed 

 cotton per acre. The number of plants successfully ratooned in 1918 ranged 

 from 34.7 per cent for Foster, a long-staple upland variety, to 85.4 per cent 

 for tlie Yuma variety of Egyptian cotton. An experiment in planting Pima 

 cotton on different dates in 1918 resulted in the best yield from the planting 

 niade March 16, and the next best yields from plantings made March 9 and 

 'March 23. The Pima and Durango varieties grown by the furrow-and-bed 

 method produced somewhat larger yields than were secured from ordinary 

 plantings. It is pointed out that under the furrow-and-bed metho<l the feeding 

 roots form only on one side of the plant and that this is probably the reason 

 that the method is effective in reducing excessive growth in the cotton plant. 

 Bree<ling work was continued, and specially encouraging results with a strain 

 of upland cotton, designated as No. 18. are reported. 



During the past two years the most promising varieties of grain sorghums 

 tested at the station were compared with recently introduced varieties. Dwarf 

 hegari was the only variety producing more grain than Dwarf milo, the stan<l- 

 ard variety for the region, and it ranked second in the growth of forage. The 

 percentage of thrashed grain from air-dry head weights was among the 



