Motes and abstracts. 
i93 
with has proved to be borax. It is economical, effective, and increases the 
water-soluble nitrogen, ammonia, and alkalinity of manure, and apparently 
does not permanently injure the bacterial flora. An application of 0 62 lb. borax 
to every 10 cubic feet (8 bushels) of fresh manure is necessary. The borax 
to be sifted over the pile and particularly round the edges, and then 2 or 3 gallons 
of water sprinkled over it. The effect of borax-treated manure has not been 
studied in connexion with the growth of all crops, nor has its cumulative effect 
been determined. It is therefore recommended that not more than 15 tons 
an acre of the treated manure be used, — V t G t J, 
Formaldehyde Gas, The Injurious Effects on Seed Potatos. Formaldehyde 
for the Treatment of Seed Potatos against Rhizoctonia, The Efficiency of. By 
F. C. Stewart and W. O. Gloyer {U.S.A. Exp. Stn., New York, Bulls. 369-370, 
Dec. 1913 ; 3 plates; 5 tables). — The injury of seed potatos when treated 
by formaldehyde gas was very marked, the damage being in the form of sunken 
brown spots surrounding the lenticels and eyes. 
It was found that the injury was due to an insufficient number of tubers to 
the cubic foot being present, sprouted tubers suffering most. 
The authors recommend 3 pints of formaldehyde to 23 oz. permanganate 
to 167 bushels of potatos in 1,000 cubic feet of space as being quite safe. 
Formaldehyde, either as gas or solution, was not found satisfactory when 
used against Rhizoctonia, the only effective remedy being the standard solution, 
1 to 1,000 solution of mercury bichloride. — C. P. C. 
Fruit Juices, Studies on. By H. C. Gore (U.S.A. Dep. Agr., Bur. Chem., 
Bull. 241, June 14, 191 5). — Experiments have been carried out during the past 
four years with the view of finding satisfactory methods for the preparation 
and preservation of juices from surplus fruit. The experiments were tried with 
fruits such as are not generally used in this way, but which are often grown in 
larger quantities than can be consumed fresh. The conclusions arrived at are 
that the juices of red and black currants, blackberries, black raspberries, sour 
cherries, and peaches may be successfully treated on a large scale by the usual 
methods of heating and sterilizing. Strawberry juice and red raspberry juice 
are not suitable for this purpose, as it will be found impracticable to retain their 
distinctive colour and flavour. Huckleberry juice is somewhat characterless. 
Pine-apple juice requires special treatment, but may quite possibly prove to possess 
high commercial value. The future of prepared orange juice is also not without 
promise. It is not unlikely that highly specialized methods, in which cold storage 
will play a prominent if not dominating part, will be required. — M. L. H. 
Fruit Tree Leaf-roller in the Hood River Valley, Spraying Notes on the 
Control of. By Leroy Childs (Jour. Econ. Entom. viii. Oct. 1915, pp. 457-466). 
— Lead arsenate sprays were tried to kill the worms on hatching,'; but with 
poor results. (Even at the rate of 6 lb. to 50 gallons, which was used in the two 
early sprays, and 3 to 50 in two later ones, 11 per cent, of the fruit counted was 
found to be affected.) 
Kerosene emulsion, distillate emulsion, and crude oil emulsion were not found 
satisfactory, but Miscible Oil No. 1 (Balfour Guthrie & Co.) was a very efficient 
agent in killing the leaf -roller eggs. Five gallons to 100 resulted in 92*1 per cent, 
of the eggs failing to hatch, and at the rate of 8 gallons to 100 gallons as great 
a proportion as 99^6 per cent, were killed and only '8 per cent, fruit was injured 
against 18 per cent, in the check rows. The spraying should be done just before 
growth commences. — G. W. G. 
Fruiting of Trees in Consecutive Seasons, The. By the Duke of Bedford 
and S. U. Pickering (Woburn, 15th Rep. 1916, pp. 1-19). — The results of some 
inquiries as to the tendency of fruit trees to crop in alternate years were given in 
the Second and Fifth Reports, and these have now been amplified and brought 
up to date. Ignoring cases in which the cropping has been so heavy as to 
seriously impair the vigour of the tree — a state of things which becomes more 
common as trees get old — the conclusion is arrived at that the tendency towards 
alternate cropping is very feeble, and that there is at the same time an equally 
potent tendency towards consecutive cropping : that is, that a tree bearing 
particularly well or badly during one season will probably do the same in the 
succeeding season. Atmospheric conditions, and not the innate tendency of 
an individual tree, constitute the principal factor in determining good or poor 
bearing. Only one experiment, that with the precocious ' Stirling Castle,' 
favoured the theory of alternate cropping ; some of the trees, which were prevented 
from bearing fruit for two years after the others were allowed to bear, afterwards 
producing crops far in excess of their fellows. — A. P. 
VOL. XLII. 
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