BOOKS AND 



with hyposulphite of sodium, sulphate of potassium or 

 sulphate of copper may be found to be useful and prac- 

 ticable. 



Bulletin No. lo, Nevada Experiment Station. 

 The Pear and Clwrry Slttg. By F. H. Hilliiian. Pp. 4. 

 Illuslrated. Mr. Hillman finds that the cherry slug 

 i^Selandria cerasi) is coming to be very destructive in 

 Western Nevada. He recommends a spray of London 

 purple or Paris green if the fruit 

 Pear and Cherry is not near maturity. Dusting the 

 Slug in Nevada. trees with any dry powder, as lime 

 or road dust, is useful, although 

 the slugs have a provoking habit of shedding their skins 

 and leaving the dust on their old garments. But tobacco, 

 hellebore and buhach (pyrethrum) were found to be 

 good remedies. "A double handful of refuse tobacco 

 was boiled, and the decoction diluted to form eight or 

 ten gallons. A tablespoonful of white hellebore to five 

 gallons of water, and the same amount of buhach in the 

 same amount of water, were separately sprayed upxon 

 different trees, resulting in each case in the death of 

 nearly all the slugs. A second application took them all. 

 These being vegetable compounds, no injury to the fol- 

 iage is at all likely to result, which is not always true in 

 the use of inorganic compounds." 



Bulletin No. 8, Georgia Experiment Station. 

 Irish Potato Culture. By Gustave Speth. Pp. 8. Tests 

 are recorded of a number of varieties of potatoes. An 

 experiment with fertilizers gave the following results : 

 "(i) Potash, in both forms [muriate and kainit], gave 

 the smallest increase. (2) Stable manure and complete 

 fertilizers indicate the best results ; larger quantities of 

 potash in either form, combined with a 

 Potatoes in complete fertilizer, did not increase the 

 Georgia. yield, but seemed rather injurious in the 



case of kainit. The same result is re- 

 corded when the potash salts have been used alone. 

 (3) The percentage of increase where acid phosphate 

 alone was used is quite marked, but together with pot- 

 ash or cotton seed meal, no gain is indicated. (4) Cotton 

 seed meal alone shows a gain of about 50 per cent. (5) 

 Where stable manure was applied the number of scabby 

 potatoes was the largest, as well, also, as the yield of 

 marketable potatoes. (6) The results seem to warrant 

 the conclusion that a fertilizer containing all the food 

 elements in the same proportion and in available form, 

 as a good stable manure, give the largest increase, and 

 that incomplete fertilizers, while they show a gain over 

 the unfertilized plots, are not remunerative." 



Potatoes from different latitudes were planted. Those 

 from Ohio vegetated first and southern seed last, but in 

 yield " the results of the experiment direct decidedly in 

 favor of southern grown seed, and as with somewhat 

 favorable condition a paying second crop can be pro- 

 duced, very often larger than in spring, we can not 

 strongly enough urge our farmers to raise their own 

 seed." "To determine the difference of production, if 

 any, of seeds cut within different times of planting, med- 

 ium sized tubers of the Early Rose variety were selected 



BULLETINS. 635 



and cut to three eyes, ten and five days before, and on 

 the day of planting. * * * The results were 

 slightly in favor of cutting the day of planting ; but the 

 season was dry, while in a wet season the result might 

 have been reversed, on account of the dried pieces be- 

 ing better able to resist the tendency to rot before 

 sprouting. Further trials will be necessary before we 

 can draw any positive conclusions." 



Bulletin No. 63, Michigan Experiment Station. 

 Greenhouse Building and Heating. By L. R. Taft. Pp, 

 3J. Illustrated. Professor Taft has made some inter- 

 esting trials in making and heating forcing-houses. 

 This bulletin describes the method of construction of 

 two forcing-houses recently erected, and which may 

 serve as models for commercial grow- 

 ers. Several methods of ventilating Greenhouse 

 and glazing were employed, and opin- Construction, 

 ions are now expressed as to the rela- 

 tive merits of each. It is probable that different esti- 

 mates will need to be placed upon some of the methods 

 of glazing after they have endured the trials of ten or a 

 dozen years. The bulletin should be studied by every- 

 one who contemplates building a glass house. The most 

 important features of construction are summarized by 

 Professor Taft as follows: "In the construction of 

 forcing houses for commercial purposes, we believe that 

 the best results will be secured if the walls are built of 

 grout (cement, sand and cobble-stones) below the surface 

 of the outside soil, with a portion above the grading of 

 wood, with from two to four thicknesses of boards, two 

 of building paper and an air space. If properly built, 

 however, a wall entirely of grout will prove almost in- 

 destructible. We should build the roof of permanent 

 sash bars, and use glass at least twelve inches wide. 

 The butting of the glass has given us entire satisfaction. ' 

 * * Gasser's glazing strip will make a tight roof." 



The most important part of this bulletin is the dis- 

 cussion of the relative merits of steam and hot water 

 heating. The two houses, exactly alike, were used for 

 a test extending through the winter. Both 

 were heated with Furman boilers, one Steam and 

 being piped for hot water (with wrought Hot Water, 

 iron pipes), and the other for steam . Very 

 complete records were kept of the outside and inside . 

 temperatures, and of the amount of coal consumed. 

 This is one of the most important tests yet made at the 

 stations, and should command universal attention. It 

 was found that less coal was used in the hot water plant, 

 and that a higher temperature was maintained and the 

 range of fluctuation was less. The following tabulation 

 will indicate the extent of saving in coal, and the aver- 

 age temperatures secured. 



TEMPERATURE. FUEL. 



MONTH. (Average at 6 A. m). (Average per day). 



Water. Steam. Water. Steam. 



December 54.9° 52.4° 75 lbs. 9^.2 lbs. 



January 54.1 52.5 90.32 " 112.09 " 



February 55.57 53.82 99.1 " 121.04 " 



March 54.9 53.38 113.70 " 131.45 " 



Average. 54.87 5302 94.53 " 114.53 " 



