BOOKS AND 



ously without plowing ? To this I would reply that it 

 would probably be best to use the land two years without 

 plowing, and then to plow as soon as possible in the fall 

 after gathering the crop. By plowing thus early, the 

 land would have an opportunity to become compacted 

 by the fall and spring rains and snows." 



A number of varieties of cabbages were tested at the 

 Minnesota station last year. The following cultural 

 points are interesting: "The past season. 

 Cabbage at the time we thinned out the plants in the 

 Tests. hills, the weather was very favorable for 

 transplanting, and we set out a piece of about 

 one-fourth an acre with the surplus plants. The soil of 

 this piece adjoined that on which we had sown the cab- 

 bage seed. It had had the same amount of manure and 

 cultivation as that first mentioned, and been planted with 

 the same crops for several years. As a result, the cab- 

 bage was very nice on the field where the seed was sown 

 in the hill, while on the land to which the plants were 

 transplanted, the crop was uniformly poor, and many of 

 the heads did not harden up at all. The results in this 

 case were very apparent to the most casual observer. I 

 lay the results to the fact that the transplanted cabbage 

 was set back and did not recover before the severe sum- 

 mer drouth set in, and this checked its growth. 



"The more tests of this sort I make and the more 

 seed I sow, the more I am convinced of the importance 

 of securing seeds with good pedigrees. Every market 

 man of large experience understands the value of this, 

 and knows that it is foolish to waste time and money 

 over a crop grown from poor seed. Some of the strains 

 of Flat Dutch cabbage tested here have not produced 

 more than thirty per cent, of good heads, while in ad- 

 joining rows was Flat Dutch, of which every plant pro- 

 duced good heads. Such instances might be quoted in 

 abundance, but all go to show the importance of secur- 

 ing seed from a good parent stock. Vitality in a seed is 

 a good thing, but is perfectly valueless without it is asso- 

 ciated with a good pedigree." 



The native plums are by no means curculio proof, al- 

 though the fruits are probably less injured than are those 

 of the old varieties. The injured fruits of the native 

 sorts usually remain upon the tree until ripe, but they 

 ripen prematurely. Trees were sprayed with London 

 purple "in the proportion of one spoonful to two gallons 

 of water," the application being made 

 Arsenites on three times. No injury resulted to the 

 Native Plums. foliage, and great benefit was appar- 

 ent upon the fruit, which, upon the 

 sprayed trees, ' 'was almost entirely free from blemishes. ' • 

 The fruit from the trees which were not treated with in- 

 secticide contained scarcely a specimen but what was 

 injured by the work of the curculio or gouger — besides, 

 they ripened much earlier, and were of inferior flavor 

 and size, as compared with fruit from trees that were 

 syringed. The foliage of the syringed trees was unin- 

 jured." It is to be regretted that the exact strength of 

 the insecticide was not ascertained. A "spoonful" is 

 very indefinite. 



BULLETINS. 441 



The results of bagging grapes were as follows ; " The 

 varieties treated were Delaware, Early Victor 

 and Brighton. The fruit was bagged with Bagging 

 paper bags when about the size of small peas. Grapes. 

 At the harvest, the bagged grapes were better 

 in every case than those not bagged, but the most marked 

 difference was with the Brighton, the bunches of which 

 were clean, perfectly colored, and the sweetest grape I 

 have ever eaten. Those exposed were not so good in 

 any way, being very dusty and uneven in ripening. In 

 our previous trials with Concord and Worden and some 

 other varieties, the result has been uniformlv in favor of 

 the use of bags as a covering." The cost of bagging 

 varies from one-fourth to one cent per pound. 



The Rollingstone is one of the newer native plums. 

 It fruited at the Minnesota station last 

 year, and Mr. Green thinks that it is "a Rollingstone 

 valuable addition to our list of hardy Plum, 

 plums." The period of picking extend- 

 ed o\ er two weeks. A description and figures are given. 



Burbank potatoes were planted as follows : (i) On the 

 surface and covered 2 inches ; (2) 3 inches deep in fur- 

 rows ; (3) 6 inches deep in furrows ; (4) 8 inches deep. 

 The yields per acre of large tubers were 200, 212, 285, 

 and 321 bushels respectively. "The 



crop harvested consisted of very nice Potatoes at 



smooth white potatoes, of good size. Different Depths. 

 It required much labor to dig the row 



planted eight inches deep, and probably six inches is as 

 deep as it is practical to economically plant and harvest 

 a field crop of potatoes. The potatoes planted on the 

 surface were very easy to dig, but were not as large as 

 those planted deeper, owing probably to the dry season. 

 In a wet season I think the results might be reversed in 

 such an experiment." 



Bulletin No. 8, Texas Experiment Station. Work 

 in Horticiillure . By T. L. Bi unk. Pp_ jg. Professor 

 Brunk gives notes upon a great num- 

 ber of varieties of grapes, together with Grapes in 

 descriptions of vine diseases, and two Central Texas, 

 actual specimens of diseased leaves. 

 A useful feature of this grape test is a table which gives 

 the percentage of injury to different varieties by various 

 diseases. 



"The whole plat of strawberries was thoroughly cul- 

 tivated and kept free from weeds all spring, and even 

 during the bearing season. Some may object to this 

 plan of culture, but on this soil, which 

 will bake three days after a good rain. Strawberries 

 it is indispensable to keep the soil in the in Texas, 



proper condition to resist the drouthy 

 spells which frequently occur for a week or two at a 

 time during the spring and early summer before the 

 drouth of summer sets in. It is the only way to keep 

 plants from dying during the drouth of summer. This 

 was well demonstrated on the first rows of Charleston 

 and one row of Wilson. The first 100 feet of these rows 

 were carefully weeded before the ground had time to 

 dry out in June. The remainder of the rows at the end 



