752 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



plat ill eucli case was a grayisli soil cultivated in the usual manner. The data 

 secured show the vine growth to have been greatest on the black plat and 

 least on the white plat. The growth started at the same time on all of the 

 plats, but the growth on the red and black plats quickly surpassed that on the 

 check plats. The growth on the white plat was slower than on the other col- 

 ored plats and continued throughout a longer period. Measured by the yield of 

 fruit, however, the white plat was first and the black plat third. The white 

 plat ai)peared to have suffered least from a prevailing drought and the soil 

 was found to contain a greater moisture content, from which the author 

 advances the opinion that the drying out of soil may depend more upon the vege- 

 tative growth produced, which was least in the white plat, than upon the tilled 

 or untilled condition of the soil. 



In connection with this investigation the soil and air temperatures of the 

 plats were taken almost daily from March 9 to November 30. The color of the 

 soil did not appear to niodifj' either the maximum or minimum air temperature. 

 The soil temperature, however, at a depth of 10 cm. was much higher in the 

 red and the black plats than in the check or in the white plats, and as far as 

 this exi)eriment is concerned the growth activity appeared to increase with the 

 increase in soil temperature. 



The reconstitution of limy soils, P. Sagourin {I'ioi/. Ayr. <t Vit. ilJd. I'Est- 

 Centrc), 29 (1908), .To. ^5, pp. 555-562). — The comparative results are given of 

 tests of 2 grape hybrids, Monrvedre-Rupcsiris 1202 and Vhasselas-Bcrhtndieri 

 41b. used as stocks on calcareous soils and upon which were grafted varieties 

 of grapes. Grapes grafted on the former had a much more vigorous gi'owth 

 than those grafted on the latter, which growth appeared, however, in some 

 cases, to influence the quantity and (piality of fruit unfavorably. A'ines grafted 

 on VIiusNclas-Brrlandirri 41b matured quicker and the fruit attained as a rule 

 a higher sugar content. This st(x-k is esiiecially recommended for plantations 

 producing fine wines. 



Recent investigations on the shallow culture of grapes, L. Kavaz [Ann. 

 Ecolc Xat. -Agr. Montpcllicr, n. scr., 8 {1908), \o. L pp. 5-21, figs. 6). — In con- 

 tinuation of previous investigations on shallow culture ( E. S. R., 17, p. 860), 

 exiieriments were conducted in 1906-7 in which shallow culture was compared 

 with deep culture in a vineyard in which the vines were stuuted and suffering 

 with short nodes. 



The test plats had previously been fertilized and drained, but no considerable 

 increase of vigor was noted either from the drainage or from any of the fer- 

 tilizer ingredients, with the exception of niti'ogen, which apiieared to stimulate 

 the growth somewhat. Shallow culture, however, liad a decided beneficial influ- 

 ence on the vine growth and on the fruit production. The benefit is attrib- 

 uted chiefiy to the encouragement and protection of surface-feeding roots. 

 Similar results were secured at Geisenheim by tlie use of a mulch of basic slag. 

 In the latter case the roots were not only protected, but the slag furnished a 

 certain amount of plant food to the vines. 



Investigations relative to the influence of the condition of the surface of the 

 soil on the temperature of the air and of tlie soil showed the air to be warmer 

 above level, shallow-tilled soil than above rough plowed soil. Newly plowed, 

 moist soil cools the atmosphere to a considerable extent. The temperatui'e at 

 the base of the vines is higher than above the ridges between the rows. Level 

 shallow culture starts vegetation earlier in the spring. Although the new 

 growth is exposed for a longer time to spring frosts, these frosts are not so 

 severe as on the cloddy soils. In order to lessen the danger from spring frosts 

 it is suggested that soils should be left in a rough couditiou until growth starts, 



