August 19, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



395 



rine and nitrogenous contents, vary greatly among different 

 kinds and under different conditions of growth. It is there- 

 fore an important question of domestic economy to the con- 

 sumer to know what fruit he is using. The ash analysis, to- 

 gether with the nitrogenous contents of the standard varieties, 

 show that the ingredients which the soil loses by an ordinary 

 crop are a serious drain upon its supporting value, and what 

 particular plant-foods suffer the greatest loss can only be known 

 by determining the actual constituents that are withdrawn. 



The body of the bulletin is taken up with a description of 

 various varieties of oranges received from different places, 

 together with a physical analysis, a proximate general analysis, 

 and an analysis of the ash. For example, eight specimens 

 of the Navel Orange, taken from different parts of the state, 

 were investigated, and a similar analysis was made of several 

 specimens of Mediterranean Sweet, Saint Michael's, Valencia, 

 Malta Blood, Tangerine and some seedlings. Of course, it 

 would not be of interest to quote all these details, but some of 

 the prominent points of similarity and difference which have 

 been brought out in the tables are interesting. In comparing 

 the oranges as to their proportion of rind to flesh, the Navel, 

 although the choicest of oranges, has, contrary to popular im- 

 pression, no advantage in this respect over the Mediterranean 

 Sweet or Saint Michael's. The average Navel contains about 

 seventy-two per cent, of flesh, while the average Mediterranean 

 Sweet shows seventy-three per cent, and the Saint Michael's 

 eighty-one per cent. 



In regard to the proportion of juice to flesh the Navel seems 

 to be the driest, while Saint Michael's is the juiciest. The 

 skin of the Navel, although thin, is hard and solid and weighs 

 heavier than the more corky skins of the Mediterranean Sweet. 

 As to the sugar contents of the juice, the maximum of sugar 

 appears in the Navel orange grown on the hills, but it is ap- 

 proached very closely by other Navels, by the Mediterranean 

 Sweet, the Malta Blood, the Pomona, and the Tangerine from 

 San Gabriel. This Tangerine shows the highest proportion of 

 cane-sugar in the whole series, but to what extent the cane- 

 sugar determines the sweetness to the taste is a matter not 

 fully understood. The proportion between the grape-sugar 

 and the fruit-sugar is not yet determined, and is, of course, an 

 essential factor in the case. The average sugar-content of 

 fully ripe Navels, from all localities, is 10.8 per cent., which is 

 more than that of the other varieties. A Valencia orange from 

 Pomona shows a much lower sugar percentage. In respect 

 to acid in the juice, the Malta Blood contains a maximum of 

 more than two per cent., with an average of one-sixth per cent, 

 in three samples examined. In contrast with the Malta Blood, 

 Saint Michael's has a low acid-content, but this is combined 

 with a low sugar percentage. 



In discussing the nutritive value of the fruit the flesh-form- 

 ing ingredients are the most important, and it is, therefore, of 

 interest to compare the albuminoids of oranges with those of 

 other fruits, and of different varieties among themselves. 

 According to European data, oranges stand first among fruits 

 in this regard, followed by prunes second, peaches and apri- 

 cots third, bananas and grapes fourth, while apples and pears 

 stand nearly the lowest on the list. The determinations of 

 albuminoids in California oranges show smaller percentages, 

 so that it must be concluded that the California fruit is less 

 nourishing than that of Sicily. The difference observed, how- 

 ever, may be due to the age of the trees which bear the fruit, 

 as California trees are usually young. 



Referring to the composition of the ash and nitrogen con- 

 tents of fruits, it is said that grapes stand first and oranges 

 stand second in the quantity of mineral matter withdrawn 

 from the soil. Heretofore, all conclusions bearing upon the 

 ash and nitrogen of oranges and lemons have been based on 

 European data, but from the comparative exhibit made here 

 it seems, so far as oranges are concerned, that the California 

 fruit draws much less upon all the ingredients that have to be 

 replaced by fertilization, while the California lemon draws 

 about the same amount of mineral from the soil as the Euro- 

 pean orange. Potash is the predominating ingredient in the ash, 

 amounting to quite half its weight, and it is, therefore, highly im- 

 portant that the supply of this substance should be kept up. For- 

 tunately, it has been shown, by previous investigation, that 

 the potash supply in California soils and irrigation waters is 

 exceptionally large, so that in many cases the demand of the 

 fruit upon this element will be amply supplied in the course 

 of cultivation. Phosphoric acid is not drawn upon so heavily, 

 but, since the supply of this element is usually limited in 

 California soils, it is probable that it would be prudent to use 

 fertilizers containing it in large proportion. The natural 

 supply of nitrogen, especially in southern mesa soils, is not 

 large, and, as the draft made by the Orange on this substance 



is very heavy, it should be always among the first elements of 

 plant-food supplied. Next to potash, lime is the ingredient 

 most abundantly taken from the soil, although its percentage 

 varies very widely, but the supply of lime in California soils is 

 so universally ample within the orange-growing region that 

 no replacement of this substance in fertilization will be called 

 for. The large amount of sulphuric acid found in this fruit 

 suggests gypsum as an acceptable fertilizing agent. 



In regard to lemons, it can only be said, from the incomplete- 

 ness of the investigation, that the acid, or the most important 

 ingredient of this fruit, exceeds the commonly assumed aver- 

 age, and this point should ensure to California-grown lemons 

 a high position in commerce. The relatively large propor- 

 tion of sugar shown by the analysis is a feature which will 

 fm-ther commend them to the consumer's taste, but there are 

 very great differences among varieties in the proportion of 

 rind to flesh and to extractable juice. 



Bulletin 82 of the New Jersey Experiment Station gives a 

 carefully illustrated account of the history and habits of the 

 Rose-chafer, together with the details of some experiments for 

 destroying this insect, which, upon the whole, are rather de- 

 pressing. Careful trials were made with the arsenites, copper 

 mixtures, pyrethrum, kerosene, lime, tobacco, ascetic acid, 

 quassia, digitalis, corrosive sublimate, muriate of ammonia, 

 cyanide of potassium, sludgite, kainit, alum, white hellebore, 

 carbolic acid, Ailanthus-blossoms, and other alleged repellants 

 and poisons with very unsatisfactory results. The hot-water 

 cure, suggested by Mr. Kellogg, of Vineland, and at a later date 

 recommended by Mr. E. S. Carman, was tried, and it showed 

 that water heated to 125° Fahrenheit will kill the insect, 

 but in practice it was found impossible to get the spray hot 

 enough to kill at any considerable distance from the nozzle of 

 the force-pump. It seemed to Professor Smith that only a 

 solid jet of water could be kept hot if carried even eight or ten 

 feet, and then would follow the practical difficulty of securing 

 a large and continuous supply. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller suggests that the species of Spiraea are very 

 attractive to these insects, and that in small gardens, if a full 

 supply of food from Spiraeas was afforded, they might leave 

 other plants. Following this line of suggestion, Professor 

 Smith thinks it is possible to prevent in part the development 

 of the insects in cultivated ground, and the outside of vine- 

 yards can often be defended by the counter-attraction of a few 

 rows of Blackberries. The blossoms of these plants are great 

 favorites with the beetles, and they would be likely to arrest 

 the incoming crowds. If they were collected from these plants 

 the injury to the vineyard might be largely averted. This mat- 

 ter of collecting seems, after all, to Professor Smith the most 

 practicable method of dealing with the pest, and various me- 

 chanical devices similar to an entomologist's umbrella are 

 figured. By shaking the vines the insects can be caught in 

 these receptacles, and if the collecting is done once or twice 

 a day for three weeks the crop may be saved. The Rose- 

 chafer has no day of rest, and the collecting must be done on 

 Sundays as well as other days, for a single twenty-four hours' 

 neglect may result in as much injury as is prevented by six 

 days' work. The insects come in such numbers that they 

 cover everything — acres of Grape-vines, Strawberries and 

 Blackberries, with thousands of fruit and other trees, and the 

 best that Professor Smith hopes from persistent collecting, if 

 carried on generally, is that, after some years, their number 

 may be lessened so as to bring, for a time, comparative ex- 

 emption from their attacks. At present, however, there are 

 too many abandoned fields to make this appear sanguine, as 

 the best of their breeding-places, are left undisturbed, and no 

 method of killing them before they come out of the ground 

 has yet been devised. 



Notes. 



A basket of rare and costly Orchids, presented to the Em- 

 press of Germany by Messrs. Sander & Co., was the subject of 

 a supplementary illustration in a late number of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



It is stated in Fruits and Flowers of Oregon and Washington 

 — the new horticultural monthly of the north-west — that Peach- 

 trees in Oregon measure fifteen inches in girth at three years 

 old, with a spread of branches sixteen feet in diameter. 



Perhaps few persons who visit the Botanical Gardens in 

 Liverpool know that they were founded by William Roscoe, 

 the celebrated historian. His name is preserved in the annals 

 of science by that of the genus Rosccea, which includes half a 



