"The rose has been called the "Queen of Flowers," and its universal popularity is clearly shown by the fact that people attempt to grow roses in all parts of this and other countries. Roses are among the oldest of cultivated flowers and the frequent references to them in the Bible and other ancient writings testify to the prominent part they have played in the history of mankind. Although the rigorous and rather changeable climate of certain sections of the United States offers some handicaps to rose growing, it is possible to select certain types of roses which can be grown easily in any location where other sun-loving garden flowers are successful. The wise gardener is careful to study the particular situation in question before selecting varieties and types for planting."--Introduction, p. [531].

The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station for several years has conducted experiments on the broad aspects of green manuring. In 1940, 1941, and 1942 studies were made to determine the effect of plowing under hairy vetch in these experiments on the reaction of Lufkin fine sandy loam at College Station, Texas. It was found that plowing under hairy vetch produced a significant increase in the acidity of the soil, at least during the growing season of cotton which followed the vetch. The increase in acidity was more pronounced on the fallowed portion of the plots than on the plots planted to cotton. There were some differences in the pH values of soil samples taken at different dates, but the highest pH values were obtained from the sample taken in July.

Experiments are described which were made on four typical Oregon soil types to study the causes of erratic response to copper sulfate fertilization of cane fruits. These experiments included a solubility study using extractants of increasing strength; a fixation study in which amounts of copper as copper sulfate up to 160 p.p.m. were added to the soils; greenhouse work using low-copper and high-copper applications; and an availability study of fixed copper using beans The following conclusions appear to be justified: 1. An acid extraction of soils using boiling 1 and 5 normal nitric acid established arbitrary boundaries with copper solubility that were reproducible. 2. Acid extraction of the four soils studied indicated that, although the soils differed in total native copper contents and in the amounts extractable by neutral normal ammonium acetate and by different strength boiling nitric acid, the quantity of copper available was sufficient for plant growth. 3. Soil copper exists in an equilibrium between available, slowly available, and extremely slowly available forms. These forms contain sufficient copper for plant needs, hence yield increases may not be obtained from soluble copper additions to the soils studied. 4. Copper fixation absorbed most of the addition whether the soil was subjected to an alternate wetting and drying or to a moist storage. 5. Oat plants gave little or no response to copper additions. 6. Fixed copper is not available to growing bean plants. 7. None of the four soils studied responded definitely to copper additions by increased growth and it is doubtful that use of copper supplements in these soils would prove economical. 8. Erratic response obtained in the field appears to be due to factors other than a deficiency of copper in available forms in the soils studied.

Kanota, C.I. 839, a strain of Fulghum, was distributed in 1919 as a smut-resistant variety by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. However, smut existed in the southern oat-growing area the United States to which most Fulghum type oats were susceptible. As Kanota increased in acreage, this Fulghum smut gradual increased until it was fairly common and Kanota could no longer be classified as a resistant variety in Kansas. Fulton, C.I. 3327, a selection from a cross Fulghum X Markton, made in 1926, was developed to obtain a smut-resistant red oat. It as distributed by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1939. In 1935 and 1936 it was proved that Fulton was intermediate in susceptibility to a new physiologic race of loose smut. This race existed as a slight mixture in a few of the Kansas collections of oat smut and was purified by increasing it on Fulton. Kanota and Fulghum were susceptible, while Columbia and Marion were intermediate in susceptibility to the Fulton smut. Richland, Markton, Trojan, Brunker, Otoe, New Nortex, Tama, Boone, Fultex, and Victoria were highly resistant to this race of smut. In 1935, two crosses were made between Fulton and Victoria X Richland and several additional crosses between Fulghum X Markton selections and Victoria X Richland selections. Most of the Fulton X (Victoria X Richland) selections, including the promising varieties Osage and Ventura, eventually proved intermediate in susceptibility to the Fulton smut. Most of the (Fulghum X Markton) X (Victoria X Richland) selections, including the variety Neosho and the promising selection C.I. 4140, were highly resistant to the Fulton smut. All of the varieties and hybrid selections included in these experiments were resistant to the Fulghum smut, except Fulghum, Kanota, Frazier, and Fowld's Hulless. Burt and Red Rustproof had a low percentage of infection with Fulghum smut but are classed as resistant varieties. All strains were considered resistant to the Richland smut, except Richland and Fowld's Hulless, although Red Rustproof and Burt had 4 and 11% infection, respectively. Osage and Neosho have been distributed to Kansas farmers for increase in 1945.

Consideration has been given to the cation content of alfalfa plants that were grown on 20 very different New Jersey soils under as nearly optimum conditions as our knowledge of these soils at the outset of the study permitted. The data indicate that high yielding-capacity of these soils for alfalfa over a period of sufficient duration to permit of eight cuttings was associated with a high content of available Ca in the soil at the start of the test. Under conditions in which all the fertilizer was applied before seeding, the alfalfa accumulated large amounts of K in the first few crops with the result that most of the soils were rapidly depleted of this element. This tendency toward excessive absorption of K by plants might be expected from the position of this element in the electromotive series. The equivalents of K per 100 grams dry weight of alfalfa tended to decrease from the second to the eighth crop, whereas those of Ca and mg tended to increase. The sum of the equivalents of Ca, Mg, and K per unit of plant material tended to be a constant for the produce of any given harvest, this constant having a value approaching 170 M.E. per 100 grams dry matter in the first crop and 187 M.E. in the eighth. The evidence supports the belief that each of these cations has at least two functions in the plant, one specific and the other or others of the type that can be performed interchangeably by all three cations. Once the supply of each cation is adequate to meet the specific need for it, there can be a wide range in ratios in the remaining quantities that are absorbed by the plant to meet its total cation needs. Whether the problem of growing alfalfa is considered from the point of view of economy in its production or that of its mineral value to the animal to which it is fed, it would appear that the soil on which it is to be grown should be fortified with an abundance of Ca and Mg in preparation for seeding, but that the K applications should be governed by the specific annual needs of the plant, a suitable application being made at seeding time and additional quantities being supplied each year the crop is allowed to continue on the same land. Because of alfalfa's tendency to accumulate K in excess of its critical need for it, difficulty is experienced in maintaining an adequate supply of this element in the soil. The annual application of K must be sufficient to maintain the K content of the plant at not less than 1%, but it should not be so large as to effect a substitutlon of K for Ca and Mg in the functions that are common to all three cations in the plant. The Na content of the alfalfa was too small to be of any significance in connection with the conclusions reached in this paper, the largest amount found being 2.04 M.E. per 100 grams dry matter in the produce of the Whippany silt loam soil.