348 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
APPLE INJURIES IDENTIFIED 
An Aid in Grading the Fruit 
Entomologists at the Experiment Station at Geneva 
have prepared a rather simple guide for identifying the 
onuses of different defects appearing on mature apples 
at picking time. This guide has proved of much value to 
fruit growers and inspectors, particularly where fruit is 
being graded under the New York apple grading law. It 
is useful also in revealing defects in his spraying prac- 
liees by showing to the orchardist which insects are not 
under adequate control in his orchard. With this infor¬ 
mation, the spray practice can be so modified as to insure 
more efficient control and consequently higher grade 
fruit. 
The guide also describes injuries other than those pro¬ 
duced by insects, such as spray deposits, hail and frost 
injury, sunburn, scab, etc. A routine system of spraying 
is described which has proved most effective in control¬ 
ling the insect pests and diseases that figure most prom¬ 
inently in the malformation of mature apples. 
IMPORTED PLANTS MAY RE FREED FROM EARTH 
BY OTHER MEANS THAN WASHING 
Secretary of Agriculture Wallace has approved an 
amendment to regulation 7 of the regulations under 
Ouartine 37, providing for the freeing of imported plants 
from sand. soil, or earth by “washing or other means.” 
The requirement hitherto has been that such plants shall 
be thoroughly freed from earth by washing. The con¬ 
dition of freedom from sand, soil, or earth is. however, 
to be strictly maintained. The amended regulation will 
shortly be distributed to importers and others in interest. 
This action was taken as a result of an informal con¬ 
ference of the Federal Horticultural Board October 3, 
with the advisory committee of the American Association 
of Nurserymen. Tt was represented bv the conferees 
that the washing of the roots, particularly of certain 
classes of plants, as performed abroad, was a source of 
injury to importations and of considerable losses. Many 
instances of such injury were presented. On the other 
hand, it was brought out that this injury was due not to 
the fact of washing, but more often to the method of 
washing and more particularly to the subsequent meth¬ 
ods of packing and shipping. It was shown that such 
washing had been done in the case of certain countries 
without any injury whatever to classes of plants which 
were supposed to be most susceptible to such injury. 
Nevertheless, the importers were convinced that it would 
be more practicable to permit the removal of earth bv 
shakipg or other meaps where such removal could he 
thus effeetivelv aecomplished. As a result of a full dis¬ 
cussion of this subject the Board agreed to the modifi- 
eaiion of the regulations now authorized. 
This is a 7’eturp substantially to the original require¬ 
ment under Plant Quarantine 37 with respect to imported 
plants. The specific requirement of washing was a later 
one necessitated hv the continuing increase of earth with 
plant importations and the diffieultv of setting up a defi¬ 
nite standard of cleanliness which would he perfectly 
clear to the foreign shipper and determinable by the in¬ 
spector of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
Hereafter all importations must as hitherto be freed 
from sand, soil, or earth by washing or other means. In 
other words, the condition of freedom from sand, soil 
or earth is to be strictly maintained. Any importations 
not so cleaned will be refused entry. The advisory com¬ 
mittee of the American Association of Nurserymen has 
given hearty agreement to this action. The membership 
of this committee includes J. W. Hill, Chairman, of Des 
Moines, Iowa; Paul C. Lindley, Ex Officio, President of 
the American x\ssociation of Nurserymen, Pomona, N. C.; 
C. H. Perkins, Newark, N. Y.; Harlan P. Kelsey, Salem, 
Mass.; and M. R. Cashman, Owatonna, Minn., all of 
whom were present except Mr. Cashman. 
PRESERVING STABLE MANURE 
Bulletin No. 494 of the New York Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station, Part II records. A study of certain preser¬ 
vatives and their effect on the fertilizing value of man¬ 
ure, by R. C. Collison and H. J. Conn, of which the fol¬ 
lowing summary is given: 
In this paper are reported the results of laboratory and 
greenhouse investigations concerning the nitrogen trans¬ 
formations occurring in horse manure and methods of 
preventing nitrogen loss during such changes. Both 
small portions of manure kept under laboratory condi¬ 
tions and composts large enough to be used in vegeta¬ 
tion work were employed. 
The laboratory work indicated that acid phosphate, 
peat and gypsum may prevent the loss of ammonia from 
manure, altho in the case of gypsum this saving was ap¬ 
parently balanced by a decided loss of elementary nitro¬ 
gen. The ammonia loss was prevented in one or more 
by three ways, viz., by chemical action, by physical ab¬ 
sorption, or by changing the kinds of organisms living 
in the manure. 
Since varying the conditions of experimentation al¬ 
tered greatly the fate of the nitrogen in manure, it was 
concluded that, laboratory work alone, either with un- 
sterilized or with artificially inoculated manure, could not 
solve the problem of manure preservation or give conclu¬ 
sive information concerning the nitrogen changes under 
practical conditions. 
The laboratory experiments were therefore supple¬ 
mented by more practical ones with composts of larger 
size containing the manure and preserving agents, and 
vegetation work was conducted as an indicator of the 
relative amounts and availability of the nitrogen left 
after composting. In these experiments acid phosphate 
and peat proved to be very efficient preservatives of 
manure, preventing undesirable nitrogen changes. Gyp¬ 
sum did not prove as effective in this respect and rock 
phosphate was still less so. 
The plant cultures having the composts as the sole 
source of nitrogen varied in the oven-dry weight of their 
tops in direct proportion to the amount and availability 
of the nitrogen in the composts. 
The organic nitrogen left in the composts seemed to be 
more readily available in the manure with which acid 
phosphate and peat had been composted. 
Wheat straw appeared to be very detrimental to the 
