62 



BOOKS AND BULLETINS. 



The California soils have had a one-sided wear, be- 

 cause of the continuous growing of the same crops. As 

 a rule, the soils of the state contain enough lime and 

 potash, but phosphoric acid and nitrogen are in small 

 quantities. The following observations concerning the 

 demands made by certain crops are suggestive: "It 

 will be seen that, for equal weights of these fruits, 

 grapes take from the soil by far the largest amount of 

 mineral matter, of which nearly five-tenths is potash ; 

 they also carry off the largest amount of phosphoric 

 acid. For seedless grapes the latter item would, how- 

 ever, be considerably smaller. 



" Next in the drain of total mineral matter from the 

 soil stands the orange. It also draws heavily on the 

 potash, and also upon the nitrogen of the soil, but less 

 than the grape upon phosphoric acid. This independ- 

 ently of the seeds, the analysis having 

 Fertilizers been referred to seedless fruit ; seed-bear- 

 for Fruits. ing (seedling) fruit would draw more heav- 

 ily both on phosphoric acid and nitrogen. 



" Pears come next as regards total mineral matter, 

 but draw lightly on nitrogen. 



"Plams (including prunes) are conspicuous chiefly 

 for their heavy draught on the nitrogen of the soil, 

 greatly exceeding, in that respect, the orange for equal 

 weights, and enormously for an (assumed) average 

 crop. 



" The difference between apples and pears in respect 

 to soil exhaustion for an equal weight of fruit is quite 

 striking, the amount of potash in apples being less than 

 half ; the phosphoric acid only a trifle over half as 

 much as in the pear, while nitrogen is eaual in both and 

 quite low as compared with the orange, whicn nas over 

 four times as much, and must, therefore, be accounted 

 relatively much more nourishing to man, as well as 

 more exhausting to the soil. ' 



"To the citrus-growers, then, who at present ap- 

 pear to be most concerned about the fertilizer ques- 

 tion, I would say that well-cured stable and sheep-cor- 

 ral manure apart, their best resort at present is to the 

 commercial phosphates and superphos- 

 IVIanures for phates of high and honest grades, mixed, 

 Citrus Fruits, either by themselves or by the manufac- 

 turer, with a proper proportion of Chili 

 saltpetre or ammonia sulphate, and generally no pot- 

 ash whatever. " 



Professor Hilgard gives directions for preparing 

 bones, and he wants a state fertilizer law. 



Bulletin No. 72, New Jersey Experiment Station. 

 Plant Liie and H010 to Deal with 7 Jieni. By John B. 

 Smith. Pp. 28. Illustrated. Professor Smith gives 

 admirable accounts of the lice attacking the following 

 crops : Wheat, cabbage, peach, cherry and melon. 

 The following remedies are given for the cabbage louse : 



"One of the best of the remedies is the whale-oil 

 soap of commerce, or the soap and kerosene emulsion. 

 The kerosene emulsion is equally effective, and for 

 penetrating power is even better. In all experiments 

 for me this season the result was uniform and the effect 



satisfactory. « * * The fish-oil soap was perfectly 

 effective at the rate of one pound of soap to eight gal- 

 lons of water. Another very satisfact- 

 ory remedy was found in ground tobac- Cabbage 

 CO. This was used with excellent result. Louse, 

 put on early, while the plants were wet, 

 and dusted on thoroughly. It has the great advantage 

 of being a fertilizer as well as an insecticide." 



The new peach aphis, which works both upon the 

 top and root of the tree, is dispatched as follows : " The 

 dealing with this insect above ground is easy. It suc- 

 cumbs readily to either the kerosene emulsion or the 

 fish-oil soap, and the application of the insecticides to 

 peach trees is usually not difficult, because of their 

 moderate size. The young trees suffering most, they 

 can usually be reached with the power afforded by a 

 knapsack sprinkler, such as was recommended for cab- 

 bage aphids. In nurseries where this insect is working 

 on the roots, I should recommend 

 periodical dressings of kainit of potash. Peach and 

 This will not only act as an. efficient Cherry Lice, 

 fertilizer, but will also serve to destroy 

 many of the lice. The application should be made just 

 before a rain if possible, so that the salts can be at once 

 dissolved and carried into the ground. Wherever the 

 solution comes into contact with the aphides it will kill 

 them, and the salts will remain until taken up by the 

 plant. The kainit is better than the muriate because 

 it contains more salt, and at the same time it seems 

 less likely to injure vegetation if put on too heavily. 

 The application should be made when injury to the 

 trees is noticed, i . e. when they look sickly, refuse to 

 grow without apparent cause, or when an examination 

 shows the presence of the lice in the orchard." The 

 cherry louse is fought in the same way, "As the in- 

 sects hatch upon the cherry, early in the season, and 

 the swarms which appear afterwards are descendents 

 of these, one or two sprayings with either the kerosene 

 emulsion or the whale-oil soap will generally suffice to 

 clear the trees and to keep them free for some time. 

 Winged forms from other localities will form new 

 colonies, but these will not increase rapidly enough to 

 get the better of the trees when they are in full leaf." 



The remedies for the melon louse "are the same as 

 forthe cabbage louse, and, from thenatureof theplants, 

 the application of insecticides must be 

 made in the same way. With the cy- Melon Louse, 

 clone nozzle the underside of the leaves 

 can be reached without difficulty, and the great bulk of 

 the lice destroyed at a single application." 



BulletIn No 21, Cornell Experiment Station. 

 Tomatoes. By L. H. Bailey and W. M. Munson, Pp. 16. 

 llhistrated. The following conclusions are drawn from 

 tomato tests : " i. The tomato plant is quickly suscep- 

 tible to careful selection. 2. As elsewhere in the vege- 

 table kingdom, the character of the plant as a whole 

 appears to have more hereditary influence than the 

 character of the individual fruit. 3. Very heavy ma- 

 nuring docs not lessen productiveness. 4. Neither ni- 



