640 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Investigations in growing and picking cucumbers, I, K. Koenauth and F. 

 Zanluchi {ZUchr. Landw. Versuchsw. Osterr., 16 {1918), No. 11-12, pp. 1025- 

 1043). — This is the first report on investigations being conducted under the 

 direction of the Vienna station for plant protection relative to methods of 

 growing and preserving cucumbers. The data here reported deal principally 

 with fertilizer tests and tests of different processes for pickling cucumbers. 



Cultural experiments with truck crops: Experiments with garden peas 

 from 1909 to 1912, inclusive, W. Schitltze (Ar&. De«t Landw. Gesell., No. 

 253 (1914), pp. ^9).— Tabular data are here given and discussed showing the 

 results secured in cooperative tests of a number of varieties of peas grown for 

 the canning factory. 



Polymnla edulis, R. de Noteb (Jardin, 28 (1914), No. 647, P- 36).— A cul- 

 tural test made in 1912 of the " Poire de terre Cochet," or Yacon (P. edtilis) of 

 the Andes region of South America leads the author to conclude that although 

 this plant was rejected some 50 years ago as a substitute for the Irish potato, 

 it may prove of more value than the Jerusalem artichoke for French condi- 

 tions. The tubers are prolific, of an agreeable flavor, and are as readily lifted 

 from the soil as a clump of dahlia tubers, which they closely resemble. More- 

 over, the foliage appears to have value as a fodder crop. 



Cold storage of fruit and vegetables, L. A. Boodle (Roy. Bot. Oard. Kew, 

 Bui. Misc. Inform., No. 1 (1914), pp. 11-16). — A review of Hill's investigation 

 relative to the respiration of fruits and growing plant tissues in certain gases, 

 with reference to ventilation and fruit storage (E. S. R., 29, p. 538). 



Annual report of the South Haven Experiment Station, F. A. Wilkin 

 (Michigan Sta. Rpt. 1913, pp. 179-182).— A brief statement is given of variety 

 tests of fruits and nuts at the station, together with some data secured In 1913 

 on a comparative test of sod mulch and cultivation started in 1907 in blocks of 

 European plums, Japanese plums, and apples. The results indicate a difference 

 in growth in favor of the cultivated trees which is becoming more evident every 

 year. 



With reference to spring frost injury to fruits in 1913, apples were not ma- 

 terially injured and the difference, if any, in the effect on varieties was very 

 slight. Of the pears Bartlett suffered most and of the peaches Smock, Salway, 

 and Kalamazoo were most affected. There was apparently no difference in the 

 effect of frost on the varieties of cherries and plums. 



Summary of the results at the horticultural experiment station, J. M. 

 Steinbrech (Wyo. Bd. Hart. Spec. Bui., 1 (1914), No. 4, pp. 30^7). — Notes are 

 given on varieties of fruits, arranged in the order in which they rank, which 

 have been tested at the experiment station at Lander, Wyo. 



[New varieties of fruit], N. E. Hansen (South Dakota Sta. Rpt. 1912, pp. 

 S2-34). — The author briefly describes the following varieties of fniit, together 

 with one rose, which have resulted from the plant breeding experiments at the 

 station and were introduced in the spring of 1912: Tokata, Kahinta, Oziya, and 

 Teton plums, the Champa sand cherry and Cikana plum-sand-cherry, the Amur 

 crab apple, and the Ohta raspberry ; and the Tetonkaha rose. 



"Winter spraying with solutions of nitrate of soda, W. S. Ballard and W. H. 

 VoLCK (U. S. Dept. Agr., .Jour. Agr. Research, 1 (1914), No. 5, pp. 437-444, pis. 

 2). — In the course of their investigations on the control of apple powdery mil- 

 dew in the Pajara Valley, Cal., the authors found that certain crude oil emul- 

 sions used as dormant sprays had a marked effect in stimulating an increased 

 vigor of the trees the following spring. As a result it was decided to try the 

 effect of a strong solution of nitrate of soda as a winter or dormant spray. 



On February 2, 1912, seven 12-year-old Yellow Bellflower apple trees were 

 sprayed with a mixture composed of 50 lbs. of nitrate of soda, 7 lbs. of caustic 



