ANNUAL REPORT, 1929 359 



now in its second year. Two fruit crops consisting of strawberries, rasp- 

 berries, blackberries, cherries, and peaches have been' cold packed with 

 various ratios of cane and corn sugars, stored at 15° F., and used in fruit 

 ice cream mixes. The most satisfactory varieties of strawberries were 

 Howard 25, Howard 17, Bliss, King Edward, Beacon, First Quality and 

 Marshall, while Herbert, Cuthbert and St. Regis varieties of raspberries 

 were very suitable for cold packing. The optimum fruit to sugar ratio 

 was 2 to 1 and 3 to 1 for strawberries and cherries and 3 to 1 for rasp- 

 berries and peaches. Corn sugar discolored the fruit and was unsatis- 

 factory. Fruits frozen without sugar lost, to a considerable degree, 

 their characteristic fresh flavor and color. Prompt freezing at 0°F. 

 followed by cold storage at 15° F. or less kept the fruit in good condi- 

 tion for over a year. Such frozen fruit was comparable to fresh fruit 

 for use in ice cream, jams, jellies, and juices. 



Pasteurization of Dried Fruit. (C. R. Fellers and J. A- Clague). Re- 

 search has been conducted on the heat treatment of dried fruits, partic- 

 ularly dates and figs, with the view of developing an effective pasteurizing 

 procedure for these products. A preliminary report on this work is now 

 in press {American Journal of Public Health). A heat treatment of 180° F. 

 for 60 minutes at 75 per cent humidity will effectively destroy Escherichia coll 

 in packaged dates and actually improves the quality, texture, and color of 

 the fruit. 



Non-Project Research. (C. R. Fellers). The canning of citrus juices, 

 the fermentation and preservation of citron, and a preliminary study of 

 cider preservation with benzoates have been carried on- 



DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING 

 Frank A. Waugh in Charge 



Lawns and Lawn Grasses and Lawn Management. (L. S. Dickinson). 



As the summer of 1929 was unusually dry, important observations have 

 been made concerning the advisability of fertilizing turf during a hot dry 

 season. Excellent turf of each of the basic grasses^ — bent, Kentucky blue 

 grass, and fescue — has been maintained by monthly applications of castor 

 bean pomace or cottonseed meal. Check plots receiving no fertilizer 

 were severely dried, thus permitting an invasion of weed growth. 



Additional field studies have been made of the fungus causing snow 

 mould, and laboratory experiments have been conducted during the sum- 

 mer concerning the large brown patch disease (Rhizoctonia solani). These 

 experiments verified the field observations, and it now appears that an attack 

 of this disease can be accurately forecast. 



Seven species of grasses imported from Germany are being tried as 

 fairway grasses, and there have been many strains of bent added to the 

 trial plots. Also, several strains of bent have been discarded, as they did 

 not appear to be adapted to putting conditions. 



The series of plots established in the fall of 1928 in cooperation with 



the United States Golf Association wintered very well, and while only 

 one year old they are furnishing many data. In this series the annual 

 blue grass and European red fescue plots were much affected by the hot 

 dry season. 



