NOTES AND ABSTEACTS. 



115 



The type of canning apparatus which comes within the scope of 

 this bulletin is generally portable, and costs from $5 to $75. 



Various means of facilitating and simplifying the process are 

 adopted, but in the main the procedure is as follows : The peaches are 

 prepared by being peeled, halved, and stoned. The cans are then 

 filled (by hand for dessert fruit, by machinery for lower grades), and 

 sugar added, either in the form of syrup, or dry ; they are finally closed, 

 using either solder or patent caps. 



If the fruit is canned cold, it is usual to exhaust " the cans by 

 submersion in boiling water for five minutes, which expels the air, 

 and then to seal the small hole with solder. Last, but most important, 

 "s the " processing " — i.e. cooking or sterilizing — which consists in 

 ompletely submerging the cans beneath boiling water until the fruit is 

 cooked and all germs destroyed. 



Any leaks should be carefully noticed and stopped with solder, 

 he length of time required varies with size of can and degrees of 

 ipeness and quahty. 



Specimen cans should be inspected from time to time in case the 

 reatment required to be modified, " processing " being a very critical 

 peration, and requiring skill and judgment. — G. H. L. 



Cardoon, A Spineless. By L. Trabut (Rev. Hort. de VAlgerie, 

 . 1, Jan. 1, 1911). — A note on a spineless variety of cardoon which 

 as been noticed at Djebel Ouach in Algeria and is now removed to a 

 otanical station where it is under observation. The wild cardoon, 

 ^ynara Cardunculus, is extensively cultivated by the Arabs, and a 

 pineless variety was once shown to the writer of this article in a native 

 arden, the owner declaring that he had raised it among a lot of 

 rdinary seedlings. This was not credited at the time, but it seems 

 robable after all that C. Cardunculus does occasionally produce spine- 

 ess specimens, which, being unprotected, fall a prey to cattle in the 

 ild state, but which might become, under cultivation, the parents of 

 true spineless strain. Spineless varieties of Opuntia are already 

 nown to exist in places where their inaccessibility to cattle allows 

 hem to survive. 



The wild Cynara assumes certain local forms in isolated stations 

 "hich have received specific names. A descriptive list of these is 

 dded.— M. L. H. 



Castanea, Essay on the Classification of the Genus. By 



. Bois {Jour. Soc. Nat. Hort. Fr. p. 580, Nov. 1911). — A review on a 

 monograph with this title by M. Lavialle, which is said to be both 

 nteresting and valuable. The author has studied sixty varieties of 

 sativa, the cultivated chestnut, which he places in three groups, 

 vided according to the shape of the fruit. He gives a careful detailed 

 ccoimt of each variety, both of the tree itself and of the fruit, fresh 

 nd .dry, and adds information on its geographical distribution, its 

 hardiness, its productiveness, the period of maturity of its fruit, and 

 its f^onomip yajue, 



