HORTICULTl KE. 



151 



tomatoes have been very successfully grown upon the same ground. Liming the soil 

 has not resulted in increased average yields of these crops. 



Report of the horticultural division, F. W. Card and L. P. Spk-vgce {llhodc 

 IsUmd Sta. lipt. 1902, pp. 231-262, figs. 9). — This report includes accounts of experi- 

 mental work done with flowers, beans, sweet corn, sand cherry, and strawber- 

 ries. In order to determine whether the red color of flowers may be intensified by 

 feeding sugar to plants, as is asserted in a standard work on plant physiology, experi- 

 ments were made in growing plants (1) with the addition of sugar to the soil, (2) 

 with the addition of muriate of potash, and (3) with the addition of nitrate of soda. 

 Practically speaking, none of these substances had any influence whatever on the 

 color of the flowers. The work reported with beans is along the line of l)reeding 

 experiments to develop varieties more resistant to frost and is in continuation of that 

 previously noted (E. S. R., 13, p. 944). A numl)er of detailed records of plants and 

 their progeny subjected to cold are given, but so far no strain of beans has been 

 developed hardier than the varieties conniionly grown. The work is being continued. 



In a test of the relative merits of board and slate for greenhouse benches as regards 

 heat conduction, the data secured for a i^eriod of eighteen days are as follows: Aver- 

 age mean temperature of house, 60° F.; soil temperature of bench over slate, 61°; 

 temperature underneath slate, 62°; temperature of soil over boards, 58°, and tem- 

 perature underneath boards, 57°. Lettuce was grown in both benches. The average 

 weight of the first crop was 4.13 oz. per plant from the slate bench and 3.85 oz. from 

 the board bench. For the second crop these results were reversed, the average 

 w'eight per plant being 4.82 oz. for the slate bench and 4.92 oz. for the board bench. 

 It is believed, therefore, that tmder favorable conditions slate does not jiromise any 

 great advantage over boards in affoi'ding bottom heat. A greater difference might 

 be shown perhaps if all the heat were confined underneath the benches. 



An experiment was made with corn to determine whether continued selection of 

 the lowest ear on the stalk for seed would have any greater tendency to increase the . 

 number of ears per stalk than selecting the highest ear each time. The experiment 

 was begun in 1899. The relative ear production in 1902 was as follows: 



T]ie effect of selectbuj tlu' khjlied und loired ears of cor ii for i^eed. 



These figures seem to indicate that there is no greater tendency toward increased 

 ear production by selecting the lowest ear for seed than selecting the highest ear. 

 It is believed that the quickest way to increase ear production is to select the best 

 develojjed seed from the plants producing the largest number of ears, regardless of 

 the point on the stalk from which that seed comes. 



The susceptibility of the sand cherry to fruit rot is pointed out as one of the rea- 

 sons why this fi'uit is not likely to become useful in the moist climate of the East. 



Experiments made to determine (1) the effect of nmriate and sul])hate of potash 

 upon the firmness, color, and keeping qualities of strawberries, (2) the relative value 

 of different forms of nitrogen for this fruit, and (3) the question whether phosphoric 

 acid in the form of ground bone and floats can be applied to the field before planting 

 strawberries in sufficient quantities and as effectively as annual applications of more 

 readily available forms, are reported in considerable detail. The results of the 2 

 years' work, which are recorded, are conflicting. No material difference was noted 



