432 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORtlCULTURAL SOCIETY. 
of moisture in the soil is required by each species in order to produce and 
maintain the turgidity of the guard cells, without which changes in their shape 
are impossible. {4) The moisture, soil, and light requirements of the difierent 
species are essentially alike, though not identical. 
A short bibliography is appended. — A. B. 
Storage of Food Products. By C, J. Brand {U.S. Dep. Agr., Bull. 729, 
pp. i-io). — Uniformity of temperature and ventilation are the chief desiderata 
in a storage warehouse for food -products. Apples require a temperature of 
3 1 °-32° F. , and a relative humidity of 8 5-90 per cent. For potatos a temperature 
between 35° and 40° F. is required, with humidity 80-90 per cent. Daylight 
must be excluded. The potatos must not be stored on the earth floor but in 
bins with slat sides and bottoms. Onions are stored in shallow, slatted bins 
at 32°-36° F. Cabbages require a temperature of 32°-35° F., with 80-90 per cent, 
of humidity. Sweet potatos are first kept at 85° F., with thorough ventilation. 
After one to three weeks, the temperature is allowed to fall gradually to 50°-55°F. 
A dry atmosphere is essential. — S. E. W. 
Stranvaesia salicifolia Hutchinson {Bot. Mag. t. 8862, Sept. 1920). — Differing 
from 5. undulata in its narrower leaves, quickly deciduous stipules and bracts, 
and red (not orange) fruits. At Kew it becomes a taller, less compact plant than 
S. undulata and is quite hardy. — F. J. C. 
Strawberry Cultivation. By J. Blanchouin (Le Jard. vol. xxxiv. pp. 62, 63). 
— Various methods are used for keeping the strawberry crop clean. Perhaps 
the most satisfactory is to apply a top dressing oi long stable manure in February. 
The rain washes the straw clean before the fruit appears. Another good plan 
is to lay down wheat-straw before the berries form. On no account should grass 
cuttings, moss, or sawdust be used, and spent tan is not advisable, as it injures 
the plants if it is dug in after the crop has been gathered. — 5. E. W. 
Strawberry, Sterility of. By W. D. Valleau {Jour. Agr. Res. xii. pp. 613- 
669 ; March 191 8). — -The author finds that, though the number of stamens in 
the flower of the strawberry is variable, decrease in the number is in no way 
related to dioeciousness. There is, however, a positive relation between the 
flower position, number of its parts, and the size of its fruits. The wild American 
species which are largely concerned in the cultivated ones are mostly dioecious. 
Fertility is found to decrease in the later flowers of ah inflorescence, especi- 
ally in hermaphrodite forms. No evidence of physiological self-sterility was 
found. The degree of development of the stamens is followed. Plates show the 
different degrees to which development is carried in certain races of the straw- 
berry. — F. J. C. 
Strawberry Tortrix, Oxygrapha comariana Z., The Life-History of the. 
By F. R. Petherbridge {Ann. App. Biol. vol. vii. no. i, Sept. 1920, pp. 6-10; 
I plate, 3 figs.). — Records the life-history of a microlepidopterous insect that 
occasionally causes senous loss to strawberry-growers. The damage is easily 
recognized, as the caterpillars bind the leaflets or several leaves together by 
means of threads. Two broods occur in a year, the winter being passed in the 
egg state. 
Natural enemies include a new species of chalcid, Compidosoma tortricis 
(q.v.), which destroys large numbers of the larvse. 
The best means of reducing the pest is to cut off the foliage as close to the 
crown as possible in early September, when the pest is in the second pupal stage, 
and burn it. — G. F. W. 
Symphyandra asiatica Nakai. By W. B. Turrill {Bot. Mag. t. 8837 ; 
March 1920). — A Corean plant, of which seed was collected by Mr. E. H. Wilson, 
nearly related to S. cretica. It attains a height of 2^ feet and produces a lax 
branched inflorescence of five heliotrope flowers as large as those of Campanula 
Trachelium. Its hardiness has not been tested. — F, J. C. 
Thorncroftla longifolia N. E. Brown. By S. A. Skan {Bot. Mag. t. 8824 ; 
Dec. 1919). — A plant for the succulent house, not remarkable for beauty. — jF. /. C. 
