NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 
223 
to eight hours in the evaporator at I20-i6o°F., and put in sweat boxes for a 
few days. ' Dunn's Favourite,' ' Rome Beauty,' and ' Granny Smith ' are 
suitable apples for drying. Pears are treated like apples, except that they are 
cut in half instead of into slices. Figs are treated like peaches. For table raisins, 
the fully-ripe grapes are dried in the sun ; so also are Zante curiants. Pudding 
raisins or lexias are dipped in boiling soda solution (1 lb. in 20 gallons) for 
three seconds before drying. Two seconds' immersion suffices in the case of 
sultanas. Grapes grown on a stiff soil do not make good raisins. 
Sketches are given of the appliances used. — S. E. W. 
Fruit Trees, Insects attacking Wood of. By P. Lesne (Rev. Hort. vol. lxxxix. 
pp. 300-302 ; 1 col. plate). — Life-size representations in colour are given of 
the Wood Leopard Moth (Zeuzera pyrina) and the Goat Moth (Cossus ligniperda), 
and their caterpillars and chrysalids : also of the beetle Capnodia tenebris and 
its larva. Enlargements are shown of Agrilus sinuatus and its larva, with the 
borings it has made in the branch of a pear tree ; also the larva and adult Longi- 
corn (Cerambyx scopolii), the Shot borer, male and female (Xyleborus dispar), 
and its galleries, and the Bark beetle (Scolytus rugulosus). — 5. E. W, 
Fruit Trees, Restoring Mutilated. By C. Arranger (Le Jarrt. vol. xxxi. 
pp. 131-135 ; 7 figs.)- — I n that part of France occupied by the enemy, the 
Germans have done their worst to ruin the orchards. The fruit trees have either 
been cut down at a height of three feet from the ground or a circle of bark has 
been removed from the tree to stop the flow of sap. In the latter case the 
results of this despicable outrage have been repaired by the process of bridge 
grafting. The grafts are arranged round the stem at a distance of two inches 
apart, bridging the space where the bark is removed. They are held in place 
by grafting-wax and strong string or wire. Crown grafting is resorted to, when 
the tree is cut down. — S. E. W. 
Fruit Trees, Sun Scald of. By A. J. Mix {U.S.A. Exp. Stn., Cornell, 
Bull. 382, Oct. 1916, pp. 235-284 ; 2 figs., 2 plates). — Sun scald, an injury 
sometimes occurring to bark and outer sapwood of apple trees, is probably a 
winter injury, caused by freezing to death of the tissue. This freezing to death 
is made possible by a rapid temperature fall consequent to warming up of the 
tissue above freezing by the rays of the sun on a bright cold day in late winter. 
Sun scald is a late winter injury as distinguished from crown rot, which is an 
early winter injury, and may be prevented by spraying or painting the trunk 
with whitewash and shading the trunk with a board. This injury is one which 
only occurs in certain years with a considerable intermediate period of immunity, 
and the prevention would be obviously employed many times unnecessarily 
for once when it was necessary. 
A list of references to this subject is appended. — A. B. 
Fruiting of Trees in Consecutive Seasons, The. By Spencer Pickering (Jour. 
Agr. Set. vol. viii. Part 1 ; Sept. 1916). — The fruiting of a tree, over a number of 
years, must take place in one of three ways : the tree may produce about the 
same quantity of fruit in each year (consecutive fruiting), or it may produce 
heavy and light crops every other year (alternate fruiting), or the occurrence of 
heavy and light crops may be quite irregular (chance fruiting). There is a strong 
belief among horticulturists that a tendency to alternate fruiting exists, and to 
test this belief the author has kept records of a large number of apple trees and 
a smaller number of pear trees from 1897 to 1904 at Harpenden and from 1904 
to 1 91 3 at Ridgmont. Two methods were employed, viz. (a) actual weighing 
of the crops, (b) estimation of the extent to which the trees, regardless of their 
size, were loaded with fruit. The former method gives rise to error due to 
differences in size, disposition of branches, and so forth, while in the latter case 
there will be errors of judgment. The author concludes that there are tendencies 
both to alternate and to consecutive fruiting, and that conditions of soil and 
climate determine which of these predominates. The tendency to consecutive 
fruiting becomes more marked as the age of the tree increases, and is also greater 
in the case of trees on the crab stock. 
There is no doubt, however, that for the majority of varieties external con- 
ditions, i.e. chance, are the main factor determining the fruiting of trees : at 
Ridgmont chance was potent to the extent of 90 per cent. The following table, 
however, does go to show that for two of the varieties studied, viz. ' Stirling 
Castle ' and 1 Bramley's Seedling,' in spite of irregularities, there is a marked 
