246 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [june, 



bisulphide. Three days after treatment, the lower leaves commenced 

 to wilt and bleach, and at the end of a week all the fully-grown leaves 

 were quite colourless, and collapsed. At this stage the plant was 

 removed, and all the worms were found to be dead. Six different 

 varieties of healthy Pelargonium were treated, three with one dram 

 and three with half a dram each of carbon bisulphide. After three 

 days the lower leaves in each case were very flaccid and almost bleached, 

 and after a w r eek all the full-grown leaves on every plant were bleached 

 and dead. The plants were not, however, killed outright. On the 

 other hand, a Begonia and a Ulex, each treated with three drops of 

 carbon bisulphide, were not injured. 



The experiments suggest that it would not be wise to attempt the 

 treatment of pot plants in vigorous growth with carbon bisulphide with 

 the object of eradicating eelworm, &c, but a precaution that may 

 usefully be taken is to treat all leaf soil, dung, &c, before use, as 

 F. bisetosa probably finds its way into the soil used by gardeners from 

 such sources. 



Horticulture, Cider, and Hops. 



Classification of Varieties of Cider Apples (National Fruit and Cider 

 Institute, Report, 1909). — During the season of 1908-9 the making of 

 cider and perry from individual varieties of fruit was continued. The 

 chemical composition, rate of fermentation, and a description of the 

 quality and characteristics of each are given. From the facts ascertained 

 by these experiments, it has been found possible to classify the varieties 

 into a number of groups, each of which may be represented by a more or 

 less well-known variety as the type, and the method of treatment recom- 

 mended for this sort may be taken as suitable for the other individual 

 members of the same group. To give an example, one of the three 

 main classes of cider apples, the "sharps" or "sours," may be divided 

 up into a series of groups, represented respectively by Cap of Liberty, 

 Kingston Black, Fair Maid of Devon, and Underleaf, with others which 

 need not here be specified, as the type varieties. The Cap of Liberty 

 group is normally characterised by the juice containing a comparatively 

 large percentage of malic acid and a moderately large percentage of 

 tannin, and fermenting also at a comparatively slow rate. x\pples of 

 this group are adapted for the production of a sweet cider of good 

 quality after suitable blending. The kind of blending required is the 

 addition of about equal parts of a variety of the class of " sweet " apples, 

 belonging to a slow-fermenting group — which may be typified by Sweet 

 Alford— and of a variety of a slow-fermenting, pronounced "bitter- 

 sweet " type — of which Royal Jersey or Strawberry Norman may be 

 quoted as examples ; or an equally satisfactory blending may be obtained 

 by the use of about two parts of a slow-fermenting, mild "bitter-sweet " 

 apple of the Horner type. 



A great difficulty met with in this connection is the differences shown 

 by a variety in different seasons and conditions of soil, &c. A variety 

 is on the average fairly consistent in behaviour and characters, but any 

 particular sample may show great differences from the normal type 

 in the degree of acidity, astringency, and sweetness of the juice, and 

 also in the rate of fermentation, and the flavour and body of the mature 

 cider. Since it has been shown in former years at the Institute that 



