Shamel and Popenoe: The Pitanga 
The plants are said by Bahians to 
fruit regularly, one grower estimating 
the number of fruits produced by an 
individual bush at 5,000, or sometimes 
more. In Florida they appear to fruit 
very regularly and abundantly, after 
they have attained sufficient age. Ap- 
parently it requires several years for 
the plants to come into full bearing, as 
they are of rather slow growth. It has 
frequently been reported in California 
that the plants do not fruit well. 
Probably this is due in many cases to 
lack of sufficient age, since old plants at 
both Santa Barbara and Orange have 
borne good crops. During the first 
four or five years little fruit seems to be 
produced. 
PROPAGATION AND CULTURE 
Thomas Green gave the following 
directions for germinating the seeds: 
“Set the stones fresh from their 
places of natural growth in small pots 
filled with light earth, plunge them into 
a hot-bed, observing to keep the earth 
moist, but not wet. In about six 
weeks the plants will appear; when 
about 4 inches high, separate them 
very carefully, plant each in a small 
pot, plunge them into a hot-bed again, 
and carefully shade them until they 
have taken root. Treat them in the 
185 
same way as other tender plants from 
the same countries, keeping them 
plunged in the tan-bed, and water- 
ing them sparingly in winter.”’ 
These directions have been followed 
by one of the writers at Riverside, Cal., 
and have given very satisfactory results. 
The seeds usually germinate well, if 
planted while fresh; at Reasoner 
Brothers’ nurseries, Oneco, Fla., they 
are allowed to remain on the ground 
under the tree until they germinate, 
when the young plants are’ taken up 
and potted. It can thus be seen that 
there is no difficulty in starting the 
seeds, and they transplant readily. 
Tavares states that the plant prefers 
a light, sandy soil. It grows well in 
south Florida on shallow, calcareous 
soils, and almost equally well in Cali- 
fornia on sandy loam. Unless trained, 
the plants usually assume a_ bushy, 
compact form, and branch close to the 
ground. They require no unusual care 
and seem to be fairly drought resistant, 
though coming from a moist region. 
The amount of frost which they will 
stand when young is not great, but they 
have passed successfully through tem- 
peratures of 27° or 28° above zero F., 
and when they have attained three or 
fours years’ growth they should stand 
even lower temperatures without any 
injury whatever. 
Genetics at Washington Experiment Station 
the rstudies or anheritance at the 
Washington State Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station have been conducted 
with wheat, oats, barley and rye. The 
investigations with wheat include the 
qualitative characters and smut resist- 
ance. The inheritance of such specific 
characters as beards, head length and 
grain color, and the general characters 
of drought resistance, milling quality 
and stiffness of straw are among those 
which are being investigated. Many 
of the specific characters have been 
found to behave in a manner that can be 
definitely predicted when certain varie- 
ties are crossed. The inheritance of 
some of the more general characters 
remains to be determined. 
The difference in the resistance of 
different varieties of wheat to smut has 
been determined. Various crosses are 
being made for the purpose of producing 
more valuable varieties with a less ten- 
dency to smut. 
The studies with oats include the 
inheritance of panicle type, glume color, 
hullessness, etc. Similar studies are 
being made with barley. In the work 
with rye attempts are being made to 
obtain a variety without beards. Three 
generations or four crop seasons are 
necessary to determine the inheritance 
of specific characters of unknown value. 
