HORTICULTl Kl 369 



Am experimenl was made to determine the length of time thai black currants will 

 keep in c«.]<l Btorage when packed al different stages of maturity. When gathered 

 while still green, 15 to 18 days before maturity, the} kepi perfectly for 1 month and 

 tin mi gradually withered and dried. When gathered some 5 or 6 days before maturity 

 they kepi perfectly for n; days and were good for I2days later. Gathered when 

 quite ripe they kepi fresh for 26 days, bu1 9 days later thej showed slighl Bigns of 

 withering. 



Cold storage for the preservation and transportation of food and horti- 

 i . ural products, Valvassori [Bui. Menu. Off. Renseig. Agr. [Pari*], / 

 No. 5, />/>. 582 542 . Tin' author visited a number of cold storage houses in Milan, 

 Frankfurt, Cologne, and Berlin, and gives brief descriptions of the differenl plants, 

 and in some instances an account of the temperatures observed in the preservation 

 of differenl products. 



Ai Milan lily of the valley rhizomes are placed in cold storage in May. They are 

 drawn oul and forced according to the needs of trade. After w ithdrawal they pro- 

 duce flowers in aboul 15 days. The usual period of forcing is from October to Jan- 

 uary. Lilacs arc also kepi in cold storage and withdrawn for forcing toward the end 

 of October. They may be withdrawn, however, al any other time in the year. 



Other plant- retarded in cold storage to be withdrawn when needed are asparagus, 

 strawberries, azaleas, rhododendron-. Kalmia latifolia, Hydrangea paniculata, II. hor- 

 tensia, Spiraea, etc. In this establishment ripe cherries pul in cold storage in June 

 kept well until August; temperature no1 stated. At Cologne -rapes on ti • 

 maintained at a temperature of zero kept in prime condition for 4 month-. At I lam- 

 burg lily of the valley was kept at a temperature of 6°. 



A new coffee from central Africa, A.. Chevaueb (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 

 [Paris], 140(1905), No. 8, pp. 517-520).— <A botanical account is given of Coffea 

 < ceha, a tree which grows 18 to 60 it. high. 



Analyses are given of the soil on which it nourishes. The soil is especially rich in 

 nitrogen and soda, and contains only very small amounts of potash, phosphoric acid, 

 and lime. The coffee seeds are small and rounded, taking aboul 10 to a gram. A wild 

 tree :> years old measured 8 meters in height and contained 600 fruits. The follow- 

 ing analysis is given: Water at 100° 7.66, caff ein L. 89, nitrogen 3.11, fat 12.5$, and 

 ash 3. 75 per cent. The coffee is classed as among the besl sorts known at the pres- 

 ent time. 



How walnuts grow, .1. L. Bowers and V. Ciillet i Pacific Rural Press, 69 I 1905), 

 No. .'.'. p. 340). Two different views are given by these writers on how walnuts 

 sproul and how the seed should be planted in the -round. .Mr. Bowers states that 

 nuts should he planted with the point down. Mr. Gil lei maintain- that walnuts 

 like all nuts should be planted with the suture or seam perpendicular to the line of 

 the horizon — that is, lying on the seam, and never on the face or with the small or 

 big end down. 



Home-grown bulbs, A. .1. Pieters I Am, ,-. Florist, .' ', I 1905 ), No. 888, />/>. 908, 909; 

 Gardening, IS (1905), An. 307, p. ?97). An account is given of a test on the trial 

 -rounds of this Department of certain varieties of narcissus raised in Virginia, in 

 comparison with the hulhs from '.> European houses. 



The Virginia-grown bulbs gave decidedly the besl results. The hull-.- of Emperor 

 gave magnificent flowers, being as large as any seen from the best imported stock. 



Narcissus princepx was also very satisfactory, and A', poeticus poetarum just as g I as 



any others, although neither obtained the high standard of Emperor. 

 ii«. >38— No. 4— or, 5 



