1908.] 



Pruning of the Peach. 



66 i 



sulphate and other nutrient salts, 0*3, 3 and 6grams respectively 

 of mixture No. 3 were added to the pots with an appropriate 

 amount of water, and young barley plants were planted in 

 each pot. The experiment was started too late in the year 

 to be pushed to a conclusion, but in all cases the barley grew, 

 though not very freely where 6 grams (=0-2 per cent, of the 

 whole contents of the pot) had been added. However, such an 

 amount is excessive in a sand culture, and the mere fact that 

 the barley grew for three months in contact with so large a 

 proportion is evidence that nothing that would be poisonous 

 to plant life in practice had been formed in the mixture. 



From our experience in making up these mixtures I should 

 be strongly inclined to recommend farmers using cyanamide 

 to mix it before sowing ; it will mostly require to be used 

 with a phosphate, and it is much less trouble to mix cyanamide 

 with superphosphate in a manure shed than to deal with it in 

 the open. It would be practically impossible to sow cyanamide 

 by hand, and even a machine would result in great waste and 

 unpleasantness to the men except on the stillest of days ; 

 but after the first spreading of the cyanamide on the floor 

 is over, mixing with superphosphate presents no further 

 inconveniences, and the resulting mixture is easy to handle 

 and can be dealt with like any other artificial manure without 

 even the waiting period before seeding that is recommended 

 when cyanamide is sown alone. 



The net conclusions from the above experiments are that 

 calcium cyanamide as now manufactured can be stored for a 

 reasonable time under ordinary conditions without danger 

 or sensible loss of its fertilising properties ; cyanamide can also 

 be mixed without difficulty or loss with superphosphate, the 

 resulting mixture being as easily handled as any other artificial 

 manure. 



THE PRUNING OF THE PEACH. 

 Walter P. Wright. 

 The peach (Prunus fersica, Order Rosaceae) is closely allied 

 to the almond, the apricot, the cherry and the plum. So 

 fine, indeed, are the botanical distinctions between them, 

 that modern botanists refuse to retain Amygdalus, Armeniaca 

 and Cerasus as separate genera, and prefer to class them 



