NEw YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 315 
older plants made a quite vigorous growth. Two years later it is 
’ noted that the bushes in this plantation were still alive and that 
some fruit was matured. The difficulty was found in growing seed- 
lings, the young plants being very delicate and requiring the most 
careful treatment. An examination of the flower showed that 
pollen was present in considerable quantities and that there was 
nothing in the structure of the flower apparently to forbid artificial 
crossing. After five years it is stated that no success had been at- 
tained in growing huckleberry seedlings, the young plants failing 
to develop under all methods tried. “The immense natural 
plantations of the various species of this fruit, which must largely 
be produced from seed, proved beyond question that when the 
secret of their culture is once learned there should be no trouble 
in growing the seedlings.” 
It is stated that further efforts would be made in this direction 
but there is apparently no record of the results and there are no 
plants on the Station grounds to-day to indicate success. Possibly 
the reason for these repeated failures may lie in the fact that lime is 
present in the soil in too large quantities for this fruit. Professor 
Lazenby of Ohio advanced the idea some years ago, which he sup- 
ported with much evidence, that certain species of huckleberries 
will not grow in limestone soils or in any soils in which lime is 
present in large quantities. 
AN EXPERIMENT IN SHADING STRAWBERRIES. 
During the later nineties the question of the advisability of shad- 
ing certain crops from the sun by the use of cloth covers was much 
agitated. On this account an experiment was started to determine 
the effect of shading on strawberries. This experiment was carried 
on for two seasons in three localities. The results!® indicated that 
under New York conditions, a covering of cheesecloth did not have 
a very marked effect on the resultant crop. “Only when thin 
cheesecloth was used was any increase in yield obtained, while with 
a moderately heavy cheesecloth there was a marked decrease. In 
no case was the increase in yield sufficient to pay for the added 
cost of shading which was estimated to be about $350 per acre.” 
The writer states that the results secured by other investigators else- 
where were more favorable than those obtained in this experiment. 
* Bul. 246; also in Rpt. 23:229 (1904). 
