446 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.41 



sibly Vaccinium virgatum, although showing certain differences from that 

 species. 



Plantings aggregating 8.5 acres have been made during the past 20 years, 

 and have been commercially successful. There is no apparent difference in pro- 

 ductiveness between 20-year-old and 12-year-old bushes, although there is a 

 marked variation in yield between individual plants. From the age of 8 years 

 onward, they average 0.5 bu. of fruit per plant annually, or 3.200 qt. per acre. 

 It has been found that in transplanting suckers from the swamps to the home 

 garden, they should be set somewhat more deeply than they originally grew. 



Manual of American grape growing, U. P. Hedrick (New York: The Mac- 

 millan Co., 1919, pp. XI 1 1 +458, pis. 32, figs. 54). — ^A practical manual for both 

 commercial and amateur grape growers, prei^ared with the view of covering 

 the whole field of grape growing in America, The successive chapters discuss 

 the domestication of the grape, grape regions and their determinants, propaga- 

 tion, stocks and resistant vines, the vineyard and its management, fertilizers 

 for grapes, pruning the grape in eastern America, training the grape in eastern 

 America, grape pruning on the Pacific coast, European grapes in eastern 

 America, grapes under glass, grape pests and their control, marketing grapes, 

 grape products, gi-ape breeding, miscellanies, grape botany, and varieties of 

 grapes. 



The future of the hybrid direct bearers, E. P:6e-Laby (Rev. Vit., 50 (1919), 

 No. 1283, pp. 65-67).: — The author briefiy notes some of the more important 

 phases brought out by an investigation, relative to the value of hybrid direct 

 bearers, conducted by the agricultural society of Haute-Garonne. He concludes 

 that, as a result of the knowledge acquired in the demonstration fields estab- 

 lished in the various I'egions of France, the culture of hybrid direct-bearing 

 grapes is believed to offer to viticulture in general actual guaranties of secur- 

 ity for the future. 



Observations on the medlar tree flower and the origin of the stoneless 

 medlar in Italy, I. Pierpaoli (Atti R. Accad. Lincei, Rend. CI. Sci. Fis., Mat. e 

 Nat., 5. ser., 27 (1918), I, No. 3, pp. 121-125; abs. in Internal. Inst. Agr. \_Rome\, 

 Internal. Rev. Sci. and Pract. Agr., 10 (1919), No. 1, pp. 48, 49). — Observations 

 made on specimens of the medlar tree (Mespilu-s gcnnanica), grown in the 

 garden of the Botanical Institute of the University of Rome, revealed all stages 

 of transition between the normal medlar and the stoneless medlar. The stone- 

 less medlar seems to have originated through the successive reduction of the 

 pistils up to their complete disappearance and through the asexual reproduction 

 of the germs which showed this character for the first time. 



The total absence of the pistils is accompanied by the total absence of such 

 secondary chai'acters as the downy areas on the surface of the expansion of 

 the receptacle and the yellow halo of the stamens on the edge of the receptacle. 



Olive culture in Argentina, C. Vallejo (Bol. Min. Agr. [Argentina'^, 2S 

 (1918), No. 1, pp. 124-14'ilj pl' iy fids. 17). — ^This paper discusses methods of 

 growing olives and the preparation of olive oil, with special reference to the 

 development of the industry in Argentina. 



Avocados, particularly Guatemalans, W. Popenoe (Fla. Groicer, 19 (1919), 

 Nos. 23, pp. 6, 18-20, figs. 2; 24, pp. 6, 7, 12, 13, figs. 2).— A paper on this sub- 

 ject, based on the authoi"'s study of the avocado in Guatemala (E. S. II., 41, 

 p. 45), in which the author gives special consideration to factors influencing the 

 successful introduction and culture of Guatemalan varieties in Florida. 



[Stocks for citrus trees], R. A. Davis (Union So. Africa, Dept. Agr. Rpt., 

 1917-18, pp. 73, 74). — A summary of results secured in a test of various stocks 

 for citrus trees conducted under the direction of the Department of Agriculture 

 of the Union of South Africa for a number of years. 



