NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



267 



illustration, the normal type of the species is replaced by a peculiar 

 * ramo-cristate ' form of the pinn*, while the pinnules are contracted 

 and crispate, the result being a very novel form of cresting or tasseUing." 



G. S. S. 



Peas, Garden (Leading article in Garden, No. 1789, p. 129 ; March 3, 

 1906). — There are few vegetables which differ so much constitutionally 

 as the various varieties of peas, and those only should be grown to any 

 extent which by experience have proved to be best suited for one's own 

 district. Exceptions, however, can be made even with these, as there 

 are one or two standard varieties that seldom fail, and warrant inclusion 

 in every collection. 



As is generally known, the garden pea requires a well-drained, deeply 

 trenched, and enriched soil, especially so for late summer and autumn 

 supplies. The ground should have been well manured and deeply tilled 

 during the winter or early spring months, and the seeds should be sown 

 in drills thinly, allowing a good distance between the rows until the first 

 week in April ; after that time the method of sowing them in well- 

 prepared trenches, excavated and filled in much the same way as for 

 celery, cannot be too strongly recommended. — E. T. G. 



Pine-destroying- Beetle, Western. By .1 L. Webb {U.S.A. 

 Dep. Ayr. [Bur. Ent.), Bull 58, Pt. II. ; August 1906 ; 2 plates, 5 figs.).— 

 The beetle, Dendroctonus hrevicomis Lee, a stout brownish insect about 

 ^ to y\ in. long, attacks living "sugar" and "western" pines {Pinus 

 La7nhertiana and P. ponderosa) in swarms, burrowing into the living 

 bark, in the inner part of which the female excavates winding galleries 

 in which to deposit her eggs. This interferes with the natural fiow of 

 sap, and ultimately kills the tree. Their presence is known by the 

 appearance of small masses of resin in the crevices of the bark of recently 

 attacked living trees as well as of the dead and dying ones, and the 

 beetles may be found in their characteristic galleries by removing the 

 bark. The attack is sometimes preceded by defoliation of the trees by 

 caterpillars, but apparently not always. The areas infected should be 

 ascertained in September and October, and after that the infested trees 

 should be felled and the bark removed and burned, completing this 

 operation by May. The patches of trees worst attacked should receive 

 the first attention. Summer cutting is undesirable, since the presence of 

 a few felled trees attracts large numbers of insects from a distance. 

 Trap trees may be provided so long as the bark is removed and burned 

 before the beetles emerge. Storm-felled and lightning-struck trees should 

 be watched, and if attacked should be treated as recommended above. 



F. J. C. 



Plant Food Constituents used by Bearing- Fruit Trees. By 



L. L. Van Slyke, 0. M. Taylor, and H. Andrews (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. New 

 York, Bull. 265 ; April 1905). — The quantities of mineral matter taken 

 up per acre during a year were ascertained in the case of apples, peaches, 

 pears, plums, and quinces by carefully gathering, weighing, drying, and 

 analysing the fruit, leaves, and new growth of wood as represented by the 

 tips of the branches. No account was taken of that used in the increase 



