HORTICULTUEE. 341 



from what it occupied in auotber, wliereas 2 differeat varieties selected at 

 random occupied in tlie same year positions averaging 3* days difference from 

 tliose of auotlier year. There was, however, a certain tendency to preserve 

 the same order of flowering in successive seasons. Varieties of apples of foreign 

 origin* showed no peculiarities in the date of their blossoming. 



The Hitchings apple, S. A. Beach (Rural Neto Yorker, 69 {1910), No. Jf073, 

 p. 1069, figs. 2). — A new sport of the Twenty-Ounce apple originating in the 

 Hitchings' orchard, near Syracuse, is here pictured and described. This variety, 

 which has been called the Hitchings, is of the same texture, flavor, and quality, 

 as the Twenty Ounce, but is about 2 weeks later in season and has a red, un- 

 broken color, which in the best specimens, practically covers the entire fruit. 



Some modern viticultural m.ethods, G. H. Adcock (Rpt. Austral. Assoc. Adv. 

 Sci., 12 (1909), pp. 606-612). — This is a resume of the progress made in the 

 State of Victoria with the reconstitntion of phylloxera infested vinej^ards on 

 American resistant stocks. 



Pollination experiments with. Anonas, F. J. Wester (Bui. Torrey Boi. 

 Cluh, 31 (1910), No. 2, pp. 529-5^9, figs. 5).— Of the members of the Anona 

 family which have been introduced into south Florida the sugar apple (A. 

 squamosa), the custard apple (A. reticulata), and the cherimoya (A. cheri- 

 molla), together with one indigenous species, the pond apple (A. glabra) ap- 

 pear to grow well, but the failure of the cherimoya to set fruit after having 

 bloomed for several years led the author to begin investigations in 1907 rela- 

 tive to the probable cause of the sterility of this species in Florida. 



Pollination studies of the flowers of all of the above species during the past 

 4 seasons led the author to conclude that the flowers are proterogynous and 

 entomophilous. A small beetle (Colastus truncatus) was found acting as pol- 

 linating agent in the flowers of the sugar apple and cherimoya. Two other 

 beetles (TriphJcps insUliosus?) and a small, brownish beetle, identified as 

 belonging to the group Fharaxonothi, were also present in the flowers. In ad- 

 dition a small thrips frequents the flowers and probably to some extent assists 

 in their pollination. 



In the experiments to verify the theory of proterogyny, fruit failed to set 

 where the pollen was applied to the stigma simultaneously with the discharge 

 of its own pollen. Applications of pollen made from 15 to 48 hours previous to 

 the discharge of self pollen, howevei', led to the setting of considerable fruit. 



The author concludes that the sterility of the cherimoya in Florida has 

 been due to the scarcity of blooms, which are only one-third of the number 

 on the sugar apple, as well as to an insufficient number of insects to assist 

 in the pollination of the flowers. As the cherimoya trees increased with age 

 and produced more flowers during the course of the investigation, they have 

 set fruit sparingly without artificial pollination and at less than 20 ft. above 

 tide water. Fruit of this species is also set at low altitudes in California and 

 southern France but in Hawaii it fruits only at an elevation of many hundred 

 feet above sea level. It is suggested that this may be due to the absence of 

 certain pollinating insects at lower altitudes in Hawaii. 



The sugar apple has been found to hybridize readily with the cherimoya, 

 custard, and pond apples and the cherimoya has been successfully crossed with 

 the pond apple. Attempts to cross the soursop (A. muricata) with the cheri- 

 moya, sugar apple, and custard apple have failed. It is suggested that the 

 extraordinary productivity of a few individual Anona trees may be due to a 

 change in regard to the pollination of the flowers of these trees, such as synacmy 

 and self-pollination. The value of such trees for breeding work in case this 

 hypothesis should be confirmed is pointed out. 



