488 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to fall down and become lodged. Moreover, the peat is sufficiently 

 fibrous to absorb large amounts of water, which it holds tenaciously 

 within its own cellular structure at the expense of the young crop. 

 It has been found that the nature of the subsoil has much to do in 

 determining the agricultural value of muck deposits, those that occur 

 in limestone regions or which overlie deposits of calcareous marl 

 being the ones most successfully used for the production of general 

 farm crops and for the majority of special crops. 



Both peat and muck are primarily adapted to the production of 

 special rather than general farm crops. They are specially favourable 

 for cabbage, celery, lettuce, turnips, table beets, and peppermint. 

 When the conditions are favourable in the way of possibilities of 

 drainage at some times and there is an abundant supply of available 

 water for flooding the beds at others, perhaps the most profitable 

 crop grown upon muck and peat is the Cranberry, but ail these 

 special crops necessitate a near and constant market. The best farm 

 crops for land of this nature are Indian corn, oats, buckwheat, and 

 potatos, but the dark colour of the material and its evident high content 

 of organic matter must not be taken as indications of extraordinary 

 fertility. In practice it has been found necessary to make consider- 

 able applications of mineral fertilizers and even of stable manures to 

 such suils before they could be brought to a highly profitable condition 

 of cultivation. It may be that the bacterial condition of these freshly- 

 drained organic soils is not favourable to the growth of certain crops, 

 and that this deficiency is supplied through applications of stable 

 manure. For the production of cabbage, onions, beets, and turnips 

 upon peat and muck it is usually advisable to apply considerable 

 quantities of lime. This may be added in the form of caustic lime, 

 slaked and spread at the rate of about 1 ton to the acre, or by applying 

 2 to 3 tons to the acre of ground limestone. Where available in any 

 quantity, wood ashes have been found of value for the growing of 

 Indian corn and oats upon muck soils. — M. L. H. 



Pecans. By W. N. Hutt (U.S.A. Exp. Stn., N. Carolina, vol. 

 xxxii. No. 9; Sept. 1911 ; plates). — A second report on Pecan-growing 

 in the State of North Carolina. The writer states that he did not 

 intend this communication to follow so hard after the former, but 

 events are moving fast in his State in the matter of Pecan-growing. 

 The nut is growing enormously in popularity and the planting of 

 commercial orchards is proceeding apace. At the same time there 

 has been experimental growing at State Test Stations, which have 

 exploded several cherished theories on the subject of the Pecan 

 tree and established some new facts which are of great interest to 

 growers. This bulletin deals with the subjects of varieties, cultiva- 

 tion, propagation, soils, and fertilizers. — M. L. H. 



Pecan, The. By C. A. Reed (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. PI. Ind., 

 Bull. 251 ; July 1912 ; plates). — An account of the Pecan tree (Hicoria 

 Pecan), a nut which grows in the United States, both wild and planted 



