NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



389 



Up the plants from the seed-bed, be careful . not to break the roots too much, 

 and endeavour to lift them with a little of the soil adhering. Give the bed a 

 thorough soaking with water some time before beginning to lift the plants. 

 Choose a dull or showery day for transplanting, but, should the weather be warm 

 and dry, do the work in the afternoon, and water well after planting. Set the 

 plants a little deeper in the ground than they were in the bed. Make the hole 

 for planting just deep enough so that the plant will not hang in it. Should the 

 weather be dry for some time after planting, water the plants several times a 

 week until they become established, the watering being done either early in the 

 morning or late in the afternoon. Mulching with stable manure, grass, or litter 

 of any kind saves a great deal of watering or hoeing and prevents the ground from 

 baking after watering, keeps the temperature of the surface soil more equal, and 

 promotes root-action. — C. H. H. 



Walnut, Interpoliination. By C. F. Cole {Jour. Dep. Agr. Vict., April 1915, 

 p. 246). — For practical purposes, where interpoliination is required, planting the 

 trees in close proximity to one another should be carried out, as little is known as 

 to the distance the pollen will travel. 



It is no uncommon thing to see walnut trees producing each year catkins 

 (staminate blooms) in abundance and practically no pistillate (female) blooms, 

 also trees producing pistillate and no staminate blooms. 



Many walnut trees during the early stages of growth have a tendency to 

 produce female blooms alone, but, as they grow older, eventually produce 

 catkins (male blooms) in sufficient quantity. To be of any commercial value, 

 the tree should yield both staminate and pistillate blooms, particularly the 

 latter, in quantity. The planting of a grove with different varieties that bloom 

 partially or completely at or about the same time is a wise precaution. The 

 interchange of pollen from one variety to another is probably beneficial, if not 

 at times essential, particularly if the staminate blooms should happen to be 

 sterile upon any one variety during any particular season, a thing that may 

 probably occur. — C. H. H. 



Walnut, Propagation of. By C. F. Cole (Jour. Dep. Agr. Vtct., July 191 5, 

 pp. 437-439). — As a stock for the English walnut, the English seedling as a 

 rootstock has been practically discarded in California ; the nurserymen 

 now use the indigenous black walnuts, and hybrid seedlings raised from nuts. 

 These hybrid nuts are secured from trees influenced by the exchange of pollen 

 between two species of walnuts growing in close proximity to one another. 

 The crosses between the American black are named royal hybrids, those between 

 the black and English varieties paradox hybrids. The Calif ornians find that the 

 black and hybrid rootstocks will stand unfavourable conditions better than the 

 English seedling. Selected English varieties, on the other hand, are more pro- 

 lific, and generally come into bearing earlier than when worked upon their own 

 seedlings. Some trees, five years planted in the grove, produced from 12 to 

 20 lb. of nuts. Experiments were carried out in California by grafting the 

 selected variety (Placentia Perfection) upon different rootstocks, such as the 

 North Calif ornian black, English, and Paradox. The result was in favour of 

 the Paradox root, the tree at four years old being twice as large as that upon 

 the English root, and much larger than the tree upon the North Californian 

 black root. All these trees were grafted and planted out at the same time, and 

 were of uniform size, growing adjacent to one another, and under uniform con- 

 ditions. That the production of nuts is proportionate to the size of the tree is 

 shown by the crop in 191 1 ; the tree upon the Paradox root produced i8£ lb., 

 that upon the North Californian black root i2| lb., and that upon the English 

 root, 9 lb. 



Californian experiments seem to prove that only the first generation seed- 

 lings, that come directly from black walnuts which have been cross-fertilized 

 with pollen of the English walnut in the Paradox, and royal hybrids, are suit- 

 able for rootstock purposes. The first generation of nuts in some seasons produce 

 from 40 to 50 per cent, of hybrids. The second generation Paradox seedlings — 

 — that is, seedlings grown from nuts gathered from hybrid trees — are unsuitable 

 for the English varieties, such rootstocks producing trees lacking in any unusual 

 vigour. 



When procuring nuts of any species for growing rootstocks, they should 

 be secured from well-matured trees of thrifty and vigorous habit. 



The hybrid rootstocks are highly spoken of in California, the royal hybrid 

 being particularly adapted for wet and heavy soils, and even doing well upon 

 drier soils, or without irrigation ; there is very little likelihood of these hybrid 



