27 2 NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



LEAVES OF DROOPING FORSYTHIA. 



A single plant of the Drooping Forsythia (F. suspensa var. 

 Fortunei), growing near the Experiment Station has been a 

 subject of study concerning its forms of leaves. The normal 

 leaf may be assumed as simple ovate, somewhat lanceolate and 

 evenly serrate excepting near the base, where it is entire. The 

 smaller leaves (shown at i, in Plate XXIV), especially those 

 located near the base of a branch, are entire throughout the 

 whole margin and such leaves are ovate and even obovate and 

 therefore with a blunt apex. • The largest leaves (6), as a rule, 

 are trifoliate, the terminal leaflet often exceeding the size of the 

 largest simple ones and having, in addition, a pair of compara- 

 tively small leaflets below. Various gradations between the 

 simple and compound leaf may be met with upon the same long 

 drooping branch (3 to 6). Frequently there is only a single 

 minute leaflet as if separated from the other portion of the blade 

 by a curved cut of the scissors (3). Other leaves show two of 

 these separated parts forming a pair of ear-like appendages just 

 below the main portion (5). Often these secondary leaflets 

 are ovate and entire, but in the largest ones the three leaflets are 

 generally alike in shape with serrate margins and quite widely 

 separated but the additional pair is always comparatively small. 

 One wishing to study the variation in shape of the simple leaves 

 and the development of the compound type may find Plate XXIV 

 of interest, where the seventy-five leaves from the same plant 

 show minor variations; in fact, there are no two leaves that 

 match perfectly. 



Weather Notes for the Growing Season. 



Upon page 274 is given a table of the rainfall during the 

 growing season, April ist to October ist, for the whole State for 

 the past twenty-two years. The season just closed has been the 

 third driest in that period, being exceeded only by 1895 and 

 1899. The last July broke the record for shortage in rainfall, 

 it iDeing only 1.36 inch and the normal, 4.83 inches. This was 

 followed by a dry August and September, and May was also far 

 below the average in precipitation. 



Upon page 275 is the record of the temperatures of the State 

 for the corresponding six months and it is shown that they rank 

 as near to the average as possible, that is. twelfth for warmth 

 and eleventh for coolness out of the twenty-two years under 

 record. 



