476 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Potato Motor Sprayer. By D. McAlpine {Jour. Agr. Vict. Feb. 

 1911, pp. 131, 132). — This consists of an engine, pump, and vat. The 

 engine runs at 500 revolutions, which is considerably under any other 

 motor, and has a pressure of 150 lb. to 300 lb. It is fitted with a 

 governor which enables it to run at any desired speed, and has a magneto 

 instead of a battery. The engine can be completely disconnected in five 

 minutes and may be used for other work, such as chaff -cutting, pumping 

 water, &c. The cost of the engine is £36. It is attached to two 2|-inch 

 plungers, and the pump has a triple agitator. The droppers of the 

 sprayer are on the stump-jump principle and have also guards to protect 

 the sprayer. The vat is V-shaped to allow of thorough mixing of the 

 ingredients. It holds eighty gallons, and when fully charged the 

 entire weight is about 12 cwt. Cost of engine, pump, and sprayer, 

 £65; and if mounted in a cart, £75. — C. H. H. 



Potato, Productivity and Deg-eneracy of the Irish. By 0. L. 



Fitch (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Colorado, Bull. 176; November 1910; figs.). 

 • — It is remarked that after cultivation of the variety ' Pearl ' (perhaps 

 synonymous with ' Puritan '), a bud sport from ' Blue Victor,' for a 

 few years under the conditions of the Experiment Station at Greeley, 

 the tubers become deep-eyed, knotty, long, and unproductive because 

 of conditions causing the plant to tend to seed-bearing. Early dry- 

 ness, cultivation close to the plant and deep so that roots are cut, and 

 disease, are said to be the factors producing the tendency to seed, and 

 the tuber production is in inverse proportion to this tendency. The 

 most degenerate tubers are borne by the plants having fully developed 

 pollen ; those on plants in which the pistil only is well developed are 

 intermediate in form and yield between the best borne on plants whose 

 buds do not even swell, and the worst. — F. J. C. 



Potato-seed Questions in 1909. By T. G. Johnson (U.S.A. 



Exp. Stn. Virginia, Bull. 3, Sept. 30, 1909).— The question of import- 

 ing seed potatos into Tidewater, Virginia, w^here the crop is an im-, 

 portant one, is here considered. Home-grown seed since the intro-] 



duction of the latest varieties has ceased to be used, and the most easily 

 available imported seed has not proved satisfactory so far. A large 

 percentage of the loss from this cause is said, however, to be due to 

 improper handling of the seed potatos during transit and storage ; andi 

 in ordering quality of seed must be insisted upon above everything! 

 else. These points being seen to, the writer thinks that there is nol 

 real reason w^hy nortiiern-grown seed should not succeed perfectly weli 

 in the south. — M. L. H. \ 



Primula Maximowiczii {Bot. Mag. tab. 8363).— Northern China| 

 Family Primulaceae ; tribe, Primuleae. Herb, glabrous, leave^' 

 oblong-elliptic; If -6 inches long; scape, 8-12 inches high; flowers, red 

 on several-tiered umbel. — G. H. 



Prostanthera pulchella (Bot. Mog. tab. 8379). Austrahaj 

 Family Lahiatac ; tribe, Prostaiithereae. Under-shrub, l^r foot high] 



