1912.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 951 



Sorghum, peas, soy beans, rye, and maize were also tried as 

 forage crops, but the results were not so good as with clover and 

 lucerne. 



The following conclusions are drawn from the experiments :— 



1. The use of forage crops in the production of pork is more 

 economical than full feeding on heavy grain rations. 



2. Gains made on forage are made at 20 to 30 per cent, less cost 

 than gains produced by grain feeding alone. 



3. In 19 10 the increase in live weight produced per acre by lucerne 

 (after deducting the increase due to the grain fed) was 596 lb. 



4. Red clover ranked among the first as a hog forage, because of 

 the palatability of the feed throughout the season, and also because 

 of its adaptability to rotations. In 19 10 the average increase in live 

 weight per acre (after deducting the increase due to the grain fed) 

 was 572 lb. 



Forestry. 



Method of Planting Forest Trees (Roy. Agric. Coll., Cirencester, 

 Scientific Bull., No. 2, 1910).— An experiment was made to ascer- 

 tain whether the results obtained at the Woburn Experimental 

 Fruit Farm in the planting of fruit trees would be borne out in the 

 case of forest trees. The land used was old pasture, with a deep and 

 somewhat heavy soil. Twenty four-year-old trees were planted of each 

 of the following kinds : oak, ash, beech, spruce, Corsican pine, and 

 Scots pine, and the planting was carried out as follows : — Ten trees 

 of each kind were planted in pits, every care being taken to give the 

 roots enough room ; the finer soil was placed round the roots, and the 

 whole carefully and firmly trodden down. The other ten trees were 

 planted in very shallow pits, into which the roots were merely pushed 

 anyhow, the soil placed on the top in thin layers, and well rammed with 

 a heavy iron rammer. No care was taken not to injure the roots. 

 The trees were lifted and weighed after two years, but the number 

 was too small to give reliable averages. It is noted, however, that no 

 more of the rammed and carelessly planted trees died than of the 

 others, and in general appearance the two sets could not be distin- 

 guished. An examination of the roots confirmed Mr. Pickering's 

 former conclusions that great care in digging holes and carefully 

 spreading out the roots is not of much importance, as in many cases 

 the old roots do not throw out new roots to any extent, while it is 

 important to see that trees are put quite firm in the ground, although 

 ramming would be too expensive for ordinary planting. 



Horticulture. 



Fruit Bud Formation (New Hampshire Agric. Expt. Sta., Bull. 

 No. 153). — Investigations were begun in 1908 into the effects of certain 

 methods of cultivation, manuring, and cropping of the soil on the 

 formation of fruit buds on apple trees. An orchard consisting of over 

 200 trees, nearly all Baldwins, and about twenty-five years old, was 

 chosen, and divided up into eleven plots. It would be inadvisable to 

 draw definite conclusions from an experiment extending over such a 

 short time, but reviewing the results up to 1910, it is clear that 



