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BOOKS AND BULLETINS. 



ious to health than the addition of conserving sub- 

 stances. " The self-constituted guardians of wine pur- 

 .ity on this line simply push the wine-maker and merchant 

 to the utmost temptation to the use of antiseptics, by 

 the ill-advised, illogical and fanatical outcry against the 

 treatment of wine by physical means for its conserva- 

 tion." 



" Of course, wines known to have been prepared with 

 all due care and sufficiently matured, will hereafter, as 

 heretofore, be capable of safe-keeping and shipment 

 without any preventive treatment." But with present 

 methods of manufacture and haste to secure "age," 

 treatment is often necessary. The bulletin gives extracts 

 from recent European investigations which commend 

 physical means of sterilizing. Recently, Bernardi has 

 sterilized wine by passing a battery-current through it 

 and he finds the results better than those obtained from 

 pasteurizing. Dr. Frazer, of San Francisco, has accom- 

 plished the same result by an electro- magnetic process. 

 In the great wine districts of Algeria, filtration has re- 

 cently become an important method of conservation. 

 The Chamberland filter, now largely used for filtering 

 water for domestic use, is employed for this purpose. 

 The indications are that this is the best method yet de- 

 vised of conserving wines. 



Bulletin of the Iowa Agricultural College. 

 i8go. Revised notes of the Pears, Cherries, Plums, Apri- 

 cots, Peaches [also Apples], Ornametital Trees, Forest 

 Trees and Shrubs, which have been tested on the College 

 grounds and sent out for trial during 

 Fruits for the past ten years. By f. L. Budd. 



the Northwest. Pp, j2. This pamphlet, which must 

 not be confounded with the bulletins 

 of the experiment station, is a sort of manual of the 

 hardier and better fruits, especially Russian, of the 

 northwest. General notes upon the care and manage- 

 ment of the different fruits are also given. The Russian 

 mulberry has disappointed Professor Budd, and he is 

 no longer propagating it for distribution. The Chinese 

 peach imported by the College has proved hardier than 

 the common peaches, and the author is confident that 

 "they will prove valuable on the northern borders of 

 the peach belt." Of dwarf juneberries he reports as 

 follows : " During the past eight years we have been ex- 

 perimenting with twelve varieties of dwarf juneberry. 

 All of them have proved heavy bearers of fruit fully as 

 good in quality, to my taste, as the swamp huckleberry. 

 But the Osage, Green County, Alpina and a variety im- 

 ported from Moscow, have proved most satisfactory in 

 bearing and the largest and best in fruit ; hence we are 

 sending them out for trial. When this fruit is planted 

 by the acre or half-acre, the crop does not seem to be 

 materially lessened by the birds ; but a few trial bushes 

 are cleaned as fast as the berries ripen, unless covered. " 



Bulletin No. 10, Iowa Experiment Station. Two 

 discussions in this bulletin are of great importance to 

 horticulturists. " Experiments with Arsenites " is con- 

 tributed by C. P. Gillette, station entomologist. Mr. 



Gillette has made an unusually interesting and valuable 

 series of tests, the most important, no doubt, yet under- 

 taken upon this subject by the stations. We give his 

 conclusions, together with comments of our own. 



"The oldest leaves are most susceptible to injury 

 from arsenical applications. They often turn yellow and 

 drop without showing the burnt, spotted appearance." 



" Dews, and probably direct sunlight, increase the in- 

 juries done by the arsenites to foliage." 



"Leaves kept perfectly dry can hardly be injured by 

 the arsenites, even when they are applied very abun- 

 dantly." This, we take it, refers to the application of 

 the poisons in a dry condition. 



" Applications made in the heat of the day and in the 

 bright sunlight do not injure foliage more 

 than when applied in the cool of the Arsenites 

 day." So far as the influence of sunlight and Foliage, 

 goes, this conclusion appears to be a di- 

 rect contradiction to the second statement, above. It 

 agrees, however, with tests made at another institution. 



"The only effect of a heavy rain or dashing shower 

 following the application of one of the arsenites, is to 

 lessen the injury to foliage." 



"Leaves suffering from a fungous disease are more 

 susceptible to injury than are healthy leaves." We do 

 not understand that this statement means that poisons 

 injure diseased leaves more than healthy ones, although 

 it plainly says so, but that the injury is obscured by the 

 presence of the fungus. In the text of the report it is 

 stated that "applications to leaves attacked by a fungus 

 will often appear to do serious harm." 



"When freshly mixed and applied, London purple is 

 most and white arsenic is least injurious to foliage." 



"White arsenic in solution should not be used upon 

 foliage without first adding lime, Bordeaux mixture or 

 some other substance to prevent its injurious effects 

 upon foliage. " 



"White arsenic, if allowed to stand many days in 

 water before being applied, will do far greater harm to 

 foliage than if applied as soon as mixed." 



"Lime added to London purple or Paris green in 

 water greatly lessens the injury that these poisons would 

 otherwise do to foliage." This is a most important dis- 

 covery. " In these experiments the lime was prepared 

 by putting about a bushel of the lumps in a barrel and 

 covering well with water until all had slaked. Each 

 time before removing the lime water for use, it was 

 stirred until very milky, and then the quantity wanted 

 was dipped out, and more water added to be ready 

 for use at another time. It was my intention each time 

 to have as much lime in the water as could be used with- 

 out clogging the sprayer." London Purple thus pre- 

 pared injured peach foliage to an extent of only i per 

 cent, when applied at the rate of i pound to 200 gallons, 

 while a simple mixture of this strength is fatal to it. It 

 is a singular circumstance that lime should have just 

 the opposite effect upon arsenic which is not in com- 

 plete solution . 



