In 1 year

In 2 years

530 The Use of Chemical Manures for Fruit Trees. Results of Experiments made in 1909 and 1910 by the Royal Agricultural Station of Magyaróvár, Hungary. - SURÁNYI, JÁNOS : in Kísérletügyi Közlemények, Vol. XVI, No. 1, pp. 61-73. Budapest, January-February 1913.

In 1909, the Royal Agricultural Experiment Station of Magyaróvár made experiments in different parts of Hungary on the use of chemical manures for fruit trees; the effect of the treatment was also noted in the following year.

The results obtained were as follows:

1) Under the continental type of climate prevailing in Hungary, the use of chemical manures increases the productivity of fruit trees. This is of especial importance for the trees on the vast sandy stretches of Hungary, where the poverty of the soil only allows a crop every other year.

2) Although the returns of one year show that the use of chemical manures is remunerative, it is impossible to determine the actual profit obtained till after at least two normal years.

3) This manuring not only increases the quantity, but also the quality of the fruit.

The following table shows the increase in the yield of 100 fruit trees obtained by the station in 1 and 2 years respectively:

531

Data on the Cultivation of Citrus Fruit in the Province of Salerno, Italy. BRIGANTI, G.: in l'Italia agricola, Giornale di Agricoltura, Year 4, No. 6,

Pp. 152-153. Piacenza, March 30, 1913.

The citrus fruit plantations in the province of Salerno occupy an area of 4589 acres, without reckoning trees mixed with other crops. The yearly production of fruit is 492 000 cwt., of which 275 500 cwt. are oranges, 157 440 cwt. lemons, and 59 000 cwt. tangerines; the total value s about £198 000. The lemons grown along the coast of Amalfi are a forced cultivation; the preparation of the land costs from £320 to

£800 per acre. In the Nocera district the best citrus fruit groves are let at rents reaching to £ 32 per acre; they generally consist of oranges and tangerines planted in alternate rows (about 240 trees per acre), and they are often interplanted with walunts (32 to 40 per acre). The harvest continues from December to August. The oranges most grown are the flattened orange (Citrus Aurantium depressum Risso), the pearshaped orange (C. A. ellipticum Risso), the Maltese, and the blood orange. Almost all the lemons are exported to New York and to England; two thirds of the oranges and tangerines produced are corsumed in Italy; the rest are exported, chiefly to Austria-Hungary. The price of tangerines ranges from 6 to 12 shillings per cwt., that of oranges from 2s 10d to 4s per cwt. from December to March and from 78 3d or 8s to 12s and 16s per cwt. in summer.

532

Citrus Fruit Growing as a Commercial Industry in Southern Rhodesia (1). FARMER, C. E.: in The Rhodesia Agricultural Journal, Vol. X, No. 3, pp. 358-361. Salisbury, Rhodesia, February 1913.

The writer of the above is adviser on citrus cultivation to the British South Africa Company; he gives a most encouraging account of the prospects of this new industry. Having had 18 years' experience in America, he considers that 5-year-old orange trees in Southern Rhodesia surpass 7-year-old trees in Florida both in size and in bearing capacity, notwithstanding the fact that the latter receive two dressings of fertilizers every year while the former remain unmanured.

533

The Peach in the South-East of France. TSCHAEN, E.: in Journal d'Agricul ture pratique, Year 77 (1913), Vol. I, No. 12, pp. 366-369. Paris, March 20, 1913. On light and calcareous soils, the peach does well on its own roots; but when the soil is a clay and damp, it is grafted on the plum, and in the case of dry soils, on the almond.

The writer enumerates the varieties of peaches grown in the South: a) soft peaches: Amsden, Alexander, Halle Early, Earliest of All, Vainqueur; b) hard or Pavie peaches: Yellow Madeleine, White Pavie, Yellow Brunet Pavie, Yellow Saint-Michel Pavie. He then deals successively with the height and shape to be preferred for the trees, winter pruning, picking and yield, diseases and insect pests.

534

Bartlett Pear Precooling and Storage Investigations in the Rogue River Valley. STUBENRAUCH, A. V. and RAMSEY, H. J. : in U.S. Department of Agricul ture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Circular No. 114, pp. 19-24. Washington, February 1913. As the result of a one season's experiment in Oregon, it was found that if picked when fully ripe, carefully handled, and cooled without delay, Bartlett pears may be stored for four weeks at the shipping point, and being subsequently sent in refrigerated cars to the Eastern markets will arrive in a sound marketable condition.

(1) See also No. 269, B. March 1913.

(Ed.).

535 - The Reine-Claude Green Gage. RABATÉ, E.: in Le progrès agricole et viticole, Year 30, Nos. 10 and 12, pp. 311-315 and 365-378. Montpellier, March 9 and 23, 1913. After a few words concerning the fruit and production of this plum tree, the writer deals at length with the method of pruning the ReineClaude variety and concludes as follows:

While the shaping of the tree is a rather difficult and lengthy task, the further pruning is simple and easy and very favourable to the production of fine market fruit.

536

The Cultivation of the Japanese Medlar. OINOUE, J.: in Revue Horticole, Year 85, No. 5, pp. 106-107, 3 figs. Paris, March 1, 1913.

The Japanese medlar is a low tree, often hardly more than a shrub, with strong, thorny branches; in the wild state, it forms a pyramid. Its leaves are large, long and pubescent on the lower surface. This medlar grows well on nearly all soils, provided they are not completely arid. In Japan, it is usually grafted on quince or medlar, never on pear or Crataegus Azarolus (Neapolitan medlar). It needs a fairly hot climate, but its flowering it not usually hindered by early autumn frosts. The Japanese medlar is cultivated in the pyramid form, or simply as a bush, and is little susceptible to insect attack or disease.

At the present time medlar plantations of greater or less extent are met with in the provinces of Nagasaki, Iyo, Shizonoka, Osaka, Kanagawa and Chiba.

The chief varieties now grown are the following:

Gékkeikan. Fruit very sweet and juicy, large, ovoid, yellowishwhite in colour; it has four stones. The tree is very vigorous and productive; it grows in pyramid form, and is rather dwarf.

Mogi-Biwa. Fruits generally five in a bunch, ovoid, a little more spherical than those of Tanaka-Biwa; orange-yellow in colour, very juicy and sweet. The tree is vigorous and fairly productive.

Téraoutchi-Biwa. - Fruit very large, round and of excellent quality, very sweet. There is usually only one stone, except in some fruits at the top or bottom of the bunch; the fruit is yellowish white and has a very pleasant flavour; it ripens very early. The tree is very vigorous and fertile, and is dwarf in habit.

Tamoura-Biwa. - Fruit fairly large, very sweet and juicy, and of a yellow colour. The tree is fairly vigorous and productive on calcareous soils.

Tanaka-Biwa. Fruit very large, sweet and juicy, with few stones. The tree grows vigorously, but is not very prolific. This variety is the most prized and is much grown throughout the country.

Wasé-Biwa, or Early Bibasse. -Fruit small, very early, rather acid. Wasé-ô-Biwa, or Large Early Bibasse. Fruit large, very sweet, yellow in colour. Tree very prolific, much prized.

Sangatsu-Biwa, or March Bibasse. This is the earliest variety and begins ripening in March. Fruit rather small, dark yellow. Tree very vigorous and prolific. This variety is adapted to the southern parts of Japan and of France, as well as to Italy and Spain.

FORESTRY

537 - The Condition of the Olive Groves in the Lepino-Pontine and Venafro (Campobasso) Zones. - BRACCI, FL.: in Bollettino del Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, Year XI, Series C, Parts 11 and 12, pp. 30-32 and 33-35. Rome, November and December 1912.

After having described the deplorable condition of the olive groves of these two districts, which have been left almost entirely without cultivation, the writer gives a detailed account of the cultural methods and parasite control necessary in order to keep olive trees in good bearing.

538

U. S.

The Persian Walnut Industry of the United States. LAKE, E. R. – Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, No. 254, pp. 110. Washington, February 1913.

A complete survey of the walnut industry, including an account of the history and distribution of the crop as well as a descriptive list of varieties and full cultural details.

539

The Exportation of Fruit from Portugal between 1906 and 1910. Boletim da Associação Central da Agricultura Portuguesa, Second Series, Vol. II, No. 1, pp. 37-38. Lisbon, January 1913.

This bulletin contains statistics of the amount and value of the oranges, pineapples, apples, grapes, chestnuts and other fruits exported. The total value of these in 1910 was £186 312.

The Queluz School of Pomology, which is under the direction of the « Associação Central da Agricultura Portuguesa », as well as the Government Experiment Stations, have begun selecting those varieties which are most prized in the markets.

540

The Forests of Bulgaria. WEISS, W. K.: in Oesterreichische Forst und JagdZeitung, Year 31, No. 12, p. 106. Vienna, March 21, 1913.

The total area of the forests of Bulgaria is 7515 418 acres, which are divided as follows:

The State forests are chiefly situated in the mountainous districts of the Stara Planina, Rhodope and Rila mountains and consist of 438 separate forests. The communal forest land lies more in the south and west of Bulgaria and includes 2966 forests. The private forests are scattered over small areas in the plain. The Bulgarian forests occupy about 30 per cent. of the total area of the country, but in the south of the country they amount to 60 or 65 per cent. There are about 21⁄2 acres of forest per inhabitant; this proportion seems to be very satisfactory, but the smallness of the population must be taken into account.

With regard to the composition of these forests, deciduous species far outnumber conifers, and the following species are those which chiefly

occur: above 500 m. (1600 ft.) oak and beech predominate; besides these there are ash, poplar, plane, elm and willow; conifers are represented by pines, firs and spruce.

Th vegetation can be divided into four zones ;

1) A warm zone extending to 400 m. (1300 ft.) above sea-level. Here there were formerly vast forests, but much of the land is now devoted to agriculture; this zone has an east European vegetation.

2) A temperate zone, where the vegetation differs very little from the European flora, and some very large old trees still remain.

3) A zone reaching to 1300 m. (4300 ft.) above sea-level: besides conifers, beech is the prevailing tree; owing to its growing in places difficult of access, it is not readily turned to account; there are here beautiful stands of pure beech, or of beech mixed with ash and plane. The southern declivities of the Pila and Rodope mountains are clothed with pines; in the higher parts of the beech zone, spruce occurs.

4) Zone between 1300 and 2000 m. (4300 to 6500 ft.). This begins with beech mixed with spruce, the latter often forming thick stands; in the lower ground, grow firs, among which occurs Pinus Peuce, either in fine clumps, or as scattered individuals; above, at 1800 m. (5900 ft.) grows Pinns Mughus intermixed with spruce.

The ownership division from the point of view of altitude is shown by the following table, which gives the areas in acres.

As regards the height of the timber, the forest may be thus classified:

2 620 512 acres with trees of the average height obtaining in Europe;
4 894 414 acres with smaller trees, of which one quarter are conifers.

The annual increase of a large hardwood forest 100 years old and of good quality and normal density is 43.6 cub. ft. per acre, that of a slow growing wood of 20 years is 35 cub. ft. per acre of hard wovd. The annual yield of coniferous high-forest 100 years old is about 81 cub. ft. per acre, while a slower growing 20 years'old conifer forest produces 59 cub. ft. per acre.

The total forest area of Bulgaria is estimated as worth £23 800 000. Bulgaria exports all kinds of hard and soft woods, both as raw material and in the form of manufactured articles. From 1898 to 1902, 29 730 tons of timber, to the value of about £47 784, were exported, while the imports during the same period reached 36 000 tons, worth £76 000. The imports have steadily declined, sinking from £140 443 in 1898 to £50 246 in 1902. The value of the exports, on the other hand, rose from £40 310 in 1898 to £61 996 in 1902.