NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 515 



197 bushels with 10 tons stable manure, 192 bushels with 700 lb. 

 fertilizer, and 174 bushels with no fertilizer. 



Spraying with Paris green or arsenate of lead for the potato bug, 

 and with Bordeaux mixture for blight, must be done thoroughly 

 (sometimes five times in a season) and early to be really effectual. 



The different results of depth in planting are interesting, 4 inches 

 yielding 110 bushels from the acre, 6 inches 121 bushels, and 8 inches 

 102 bushels.— C. H. L. 



Potato-gpowingr in North-East U.S.A. By L. G. Dodge 

 {U.S.A. Dep. Agr. Farmers' Bull. 365 figs.; 1909).— There are ten 

 States in the North-East that make a speciality of growing the White 

 or Irish potato. Amongst these Maine (and especially Arootook 

 •County) takes the lead. Different methods are practised in different 

 parts of these States, but as a rule the crop is grown in a three-year 

 rotation with wheat and clover. . _ 



Thorough cultivation (up to fourteen times), spraying (three to five 

 times), judicious manuring (farmyard manure the best, but com- 

 mercial next), together with selection of seed, are essential, but practice 

 varies in the different localities. 



All the operations of planting, cultivation, and digging are effected 

 by machinery, two men being capable by this means of dealing with 

 50 acres, but seven or eight extra hands are required for picking up 

 the crop when dug. — C. H. L. 



Preserving' Vegretables for Winter Use. By Miss Blanch ard 



Harper {Ann. Rep. MHsconsin State Hort. Soc. 1909, vol. xxxix. 

 p. 214). — Useful hints and directions for " canning " peas, asparagus, 

 beans, beets, maize, and tomatos, that should be of great service to 

 those who wish to " eat all they can, and can all they can't." 



E. A. B. 



Prickly Pear as Cattle Food. By E. F. Hare {U.S.A. Exp. 



Stn. New Mexico, Bull. 69; Sept. 1908). — Cattle were fed on various 

 species of Opuntia, and the digestibility of these, either alone or with 

 other foods, is very carefully investigated. Prickly pear has a greater 

 food value than is shown by its analysis or by its digestion coefficients, 

 at least when fed with cured fodders or grains, for then the digesti- 

 bility of the latter is increased. The steers seldom drank water when 

 receiving 100 pounds of this food a day. When fed with this material 

 only, the animals scoured quite badly.— G. E. S.-E. 



Potatos, A Variety Test of. By 0. F. Noir([7.*^.A. Exp. 

 Stn. Pennsylvania, Bull. 98). — This bulletin gives the results of 

 four years' experiments with about forty varieties of potatos — early, 

 medium, and late. Those giving the highest average yields are named 

 in order of merit. 



To prevent scab the seed potatos are soaked for an hour in a solution 

 of one pint formaliii (40 per cent, strength) to twenty-five gallons 



