Stocks of domestic and wild udos (Aralia cordata THUNB.), collected from various districts in Japan, have been cultivated in Sakai, Osaka Pref., and studies were made chiefly on their morphological characters with regard to the variations among the domestic and wild udos.
Wild udos showed a wide range of variations as a whole, and their geographic variations seemed to be related to the latitude or altitude. They can be grouped into two types; the northern type and the southern type. The plants of the northern type, which are found in Hokkaido and Tohoku districts, have shorter hairs on their stems, less developed stipules, and less numbers of nodes, side shoots, and leaflets of the compound leaves, owing to their earlier blooming, than the plants of the southern type, which are growing in Kansai and western districts of Japan.
In domestic udos, however, the range of varietal variation is not so wide, and all varieties observed are found to resemble to the wild udos of the sou-thern type. “Kan-udo”, which has short rest period and can be easily forced early in the season, was said to be introduced from Hokkaido. Our observations, however, revealed that it belonged to the southern type, basing on its morphological characters.

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This paper deals with the results of germination tests of pollen in broad bean. Four varieties, Osaka Issun, Ryosai, Kyuryu and Saitama Wase, were used in spring, and one variety, Izu Wase, was used autumn in 1958.
1. The artificial medium containing 1% agar and 10% sucrose was most suitable for the pollen germination (i.e., for germination percentage and elongation of pollen tubes) and the optimum hydrogen on concentration was 7.0. But it seems that favourable ranges of the three factors were not strictly restricted, but were pretty wide.
2. The varietal differences in germination percentage of pollen were hardly recognized among the four varieties used in the spring tests.
3. The suitable temperatures for the pollen germination were 10_??_20°C.
4. The germinability of pollen showed considerable differences according to the stages of bud development from which the pollen was gathered.
5. The germination of pollen was retarded when the flowers were soaked in water for a long time (longer than 20 minutes). If the temperature of water was high (40°C), the pollen did not germinate even if the time of soaking was short (5 minutes).
6. Though each of high temperature and high moisture retarded the germination of pollen, the retardation effects were more remarkable when the both factors acted simultaneously.
7. The germination ability of pollen was reserved considerably long time; for instance, it was maintained for three to four days when the flowers were placed in the room.

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The purposes of the present study were to deter-mine at which of three levels and in what propor-tions the elements, nitrogen and phosphorus, might best and most economically satisfy the nutritional needs of plants.
Muskmelons (var. Earl's Favourite) were planted in 451 boxes each filled with 27 kg paddy soil in the greenhouse on May 6, 1956. To keep the aer-ation for the roots in a favourable condition, 1.5 kg rice straw was used in the bottom of each box. The plants were topped at the 20th leaf on the main stem. The design of fertilizer treatment is presented in Table I.
The fruits were set at the 10th node and har-vested approximately 50 days after pollination. The plants were divided into leaves, stem and roots, and these organs were immediately dried in an oven at 65°C and ground with a Wiley Mill to pass a 40 mesh sieve. At the same time the fruits were divided into flesh and seeds, and a wedge from each flesh was removed for chemical analysis. All the data were subjected to variance analysis. The results obtained here are presented in table 2 to 7, inclusive. The results from these data can be sum-marized as follows.
1. The main effects of increasing the levels of nitrogen were to depress soluble solids and the external appearance, to increase nitrogen amounts in the whole plants, to decrease the leaf, stem and fruit weights, and to decrease the potassium, cal-cium and magnesium amounts in the whole plants.
2. The main effects of increasing the levels of phosphorus were to promote the vigorous growth, to increase the fruit and seed weights, to increase nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium amounts in the whole plants, to depress soluble solids, and to im-prove the external appearance.
3. The interactions of nitrogen and phosphorus were observed in nitrogen, potassium and magnesi-um amounts in the whole plants.
4. The plants which received 12g of N and 18g of P₂O₅ per plant were able to maintain vigorous growth and produced fruits of hign quality. From the results, these amounts seem to be recommend-able for the muskmelon culture.
5. The amounts of N, P₂O₅, K₂O, CaO and MgO in the whole plant received 12g of N and 18g of P₂O₅ were 6.2, 2.0, 9.7, 4.6 and 1.1 g per plant, respectively.

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The present studies were performed to determine the amount of assimilated substances and clarify the physiological changes in the growing leaves of Colocasia esculenta (variety: Uhan) which was planted on June 1, 1957.
Growth of the leaves in length after unrolling was 14-40 percent of that before unrolling.
The leaves of the upper parts grew longer until the middle of August and no growth was observed thereafter.
The dry weight per unit area of the leaves (mea-sured by punch method) increased with increasing of their ages and the rate of increase was highest in the 10th-12th, 12th-14th and 13th-14th leaves (their unrolling times were June 31, August 18 and August 27 respectively).
The amount of the substances assimilated were highest from late July to late August, and later it decreased gradually. These changes paralleled to the average daily temperature and they had sudden-ly decreased when it went down below 20°C.
The values of the specific gravity of the leaf powder were slightly low until the middle of Sep-tember, and somewhat increased thereafter.
Concentration of the water extract of. tissue powder was highest toward the end of the growing period and were lowest in late August.
Specific electric conductivity of the same extract was highest in the early growing stage and lowest in late September.
Accordingly, the changes of these values suggest that the physiological activities of the leaves are highest in the early growing stage (from July to early September) and remarkably decrease in the middle September.
From these facts it is considered that the physi-ological chahges occur in the leaves of Colocasia esculenta in the middle of September.

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There has been no standard method in making compost for raising tomato seedlings in hot beds in Japan. The usual practice is to pile organic mate-rials, fertilizers and soil in alternating layers during summer. To get a uniform mixture, the stack is turned orthogonally two or three times in autumn and winter. Because of this practice nutri-ents are leached by rainfall during this period of about 6 months, and much labor is required for piling and turning of the compost.
Experiments were conducted during 1955_??_1959 to find easier and more rapid ways of making com-post. Tomato variety “Kurihara” was planted in the greenhouse in many types of composts made with various combinations of organic materials, soil conditioners, inorganic and organic fertilizers, and soils. The composts used in this study were made immediately before use.
1. Of the soils tested for making compost, vol-canic ash soil was better than either clay loam (Arakida) or sand because of its superior physical properties. Leaf mold from broad leaf trees was a better organic material than either rice straw ma-nure or peat moss. The best results were obtaind from mixtures of organic material and soil in the ratio of 1 to 1 in volume. No effects were observed of sieving of organic materials or addition of soil conditioners or sand to the compost.
2. The use of soy bean, rape seed and fish oil cakes, and rice bran, commonly used as fertilizer in Japan, in the rapid-made compost is discouraging because the decomposion of these materials injured the seedlings. Also when calcium cyanamide was used serious injury to the seedlings occurred. This was probably due to the decomposition of calcium cyanmide to dicyan-diamide. The best source of nitrogen is from ammonium sulphate or urea. Injury was produced at higher rates of nitrogen than 430-870g N per cubic Ken (about 6000l) in volcanic ash soil and leaf mold in 1 to 1 ratio. Good growth of seedlings was obtained when 4300g of P₂O₅ per cubic Ken from super phosphate or fused phosphate was added. However, larger quantities of phos-phates produced no injury. Fertilization with K₂SO₄ and KCl at the rate of 430-870g K₂O per cubic Ken, gave excellent growth but higher rates pro-duced poor seedlings.
3. Field experiments were carried out in 1958_??_59 at the Tokyo University farm at Tanashi. Tomato Variety “Furuya-wase” was sown in hot beds in the ordinary compost and in the rapid-made compost of volcanic ash soil and leaf mold (1 to 1 ratio) with optimum quantities of N, P₂O₅ and K₂O. These seedlings were transplanted to the field and grown to maturity. The early and total yields showed no significant difference in the two treat-ments indicating that the rapid-made compost was the same as the ordinary compost.

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The effects of environmental conditions during winter on the development of flowers and shoots were studied from 1943 to 1956. The results were as follows:
1. Drought from December to late January or early February increased the number of flowers in the next spring, but that in later season, on the contrary, decreased the number.
2. The higher the temperature in winter, the greater was the number of flowers in the next spring. The warm temperature from December to the beginning of March was especially effective for Satsuma orange and that of December to late January was effective for lemon. This effect was much more remarkable on lemon than on Satsuma orange.
3. Blooming was promoted by high temperatures during winter. High temperatures after March were highly effective for Satsuma orange, and those dur ing February and March were effective for lemon.
4. Generally speaking, the high temperature in winter promoted shoot growth. When it remarkably increased the number of flowers, the number of shoots decreased.
5. Covering trees with straw mats in winter was effective in protecting them from the cold wind, but it interrupted sunlight. Consequently in an ordinary year it decreased the number of flowers and shoots because of a shortage of sunlight. When the winter climate was very cold the covered trees bore many more flowers than the uncovered ones.

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Young peach trees (var. Okayama-wase) were moved from the open field into the glass house, the windows of which were closed in the day-time and opened in the night, and were exposed to high day-temperature for 31, 62 or 92 days, according to the schedule shown in Table 1. The daily maximum temperature in the glass house was 8_??_13°C higher and the daily minimum temperature 1_??_3°C higher than those in the open (Table 2 and Fig. 1).
In the second experiment, young peach (var. Okayama-wase) and Japanese persimmon (var. Hirata-nenashi) trees were treated with high or low day-temperature from December 5 to March 15. The high day-temperature treatment was given by covering the trees with plastic film in the day-time and uncovered in the night. The trees of the low day-temperature treatment were placed on the north side of a large building. The daily maximum temperature around the trees in the high one was 10_??_13°C higher, and in the low one 2_??_4°C lower than those of the open field (Table 4 and Fig. 3).
In both experiments, some trees were placed in the cold room of -1 to 0°C for 5_??_7 days for chilling treatment.
Bud opening and shoot growth of the trees were observed in the spring, and the following results were obtained.
1. On the peach trees of the high day-temperature treatment, bud opening was delayed and continued over a long period, number of shoots was less, shoot elongation was poor, and apical dominancy was disturbed. The low day-temperature and chilling treatments were effective for hastening the breaking of dormancy of buds (Fig. 4 and Table 5).
On the persimmon trees, however, the high day-temperature did not retard the bud opening, and the chilling treatment delayed the spring growth.
From these results, it seemed that the day-temperature of December and January in Kôchi was sufficiently low for breaking the dormancy of persimmon buds, but not so low as to be enough for breaking completely the dormancy of peach buds.
2. The high day-temperature treatment in early winter retarded the bud opening of the peach trees, but the same treatment given in late winter hastened the spring growth (Table 3 and Fig. 2).
3. The effect of the high temperature treatment on the bud dormancy reported in the previous paper, which was given throughout the day and night, was more significant than that in this study, though the daily maximum temperature in the previous one was 8_??_12°C lower than in this study. The low night-temperature seemed to be effective on the breaking of bud dormancy.

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This investigation was designed to find control measures for magnesium deficiency of grape vines grown in sandy hill regions. For this purpose, vines (variety Delaware) were grown in large porous pots containing the soil of Zinzai sandy hill in Shimane Prefecture, and were treated with the nutrient solutions containing various concentrations of magnesium.
The research program included a study in 1956 and 1957 on the influence of the nutrient solutions containing different concentrations of magnesium (0 to 160 ppm as MgO) on shoot growth, yield of grape, chemical composition of leaves and soils and also a study in 1958 on the effect of magnesium application on the recovery from the magnesium deficiency induced in the previous years.
The basic nutrient solution used throughout this study was prepared by adding the following elements to tap water at specified ppm: N 80; P₂O₅ 40; K₂O 80; CaO 80 in 1956 and 160 in 1957-58; and minor elements (e. g. Fe, Mn, B and Zn) 0.5-2.
1. It was found that for non-bearing vines, magnesium levels of 20, 40 and 80 ppm, especially 80 ppm, were desirable for vine growth, while for bearing vines, the higher the level, the better the vine growth, though differences among the differ-ent levels from 20 to 160 ppm were small. Yield and bunch size were best at 20 ppm and slightly decreased as the magnesium concentraion increased.
2. Magnesium deficiency symptom was not found on the non-bearing vines recieving 20 ppm or higher levels of MgO, whose Mg content in the leaves was 0.19_??_0.16% on dry weight base in August. It was found, however, on the bearing vines recieving up to 80 ppm MgO, having 0.18_??_0.24% Mg in the leaves in July and August. A significant reciprocal relationship was found between magnesium and potassium content in the leaves of non-bearing vines, while it was obscure in bearing vines.
3. Analytical data of the soils showed that ex-changable magnesium content increased nearly in proprotion to the magnesium concentration in the solution, and on the other hand, exchangable potassium decreased with the incresse of magnesium supply, though potassium was given equally in each treatment.
The fact that the lower supply of magnesium was desirable for higher yield of berries, while it caused severe deficient symptom, might be due to the reciprocal relationship between magnesium and potassium in the soil.
4. Although application of 80 ppm magnesium improved markedly the deficiency symptom in 1958, it was still found in proportion to the severity in the previous years.

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In order to clarify the behavior of phosphorus in the Satsuma orange (Citrus unshiu MARC.) trees, ³²P was applied to the trees growing in the field or in pots, and its translocation and distribution were traced.
1. In the field experiment, 20 years old trees growing on the gravelly loam soil were used. NH₄ H₂ ³²PO₄ solution was injected in the soil or into the trunk by the different methods shown in Fig. 1 on February 20. It was found that more than 10 mc. Of ³²P per tree was necessary to obtain reliable data 3 months after the application. The results showed that the absorbed phosphorus accumulated in the branches on the treated side, while few or non of it was detected on the non-treated side. More counts ware read in the upper part of the tree than in the lower part. Difference in the counts was hardly found between new and old leaves. Radioactivity could not be detected in any fruit (Tables 1 and 2).
2. In the pot experiment, the root system was divided into two groups, and each group was enclosed in a plastic film with the soil. ³²P as NH₄ H₂PO₄ solution was applied to the one of them, and its distribution in the various portions of the tree was measured directly by the counter one day, one week, two weeks, and one month after the application (Fig. 2). A large amount of absorbed phosphorus was found in the leaves and branches on the treated side, while on the non-treated side no count was read one day after the application, the counts increased progressively up to two weeks, and a trace was found one month after the application (Table 3).
3. In the third experiment, a comparison was made of the site of fertilizer application on the absorption of phosphorus by the tree on a terraced grove (Fig. 3).
There was no difference in the absorbing rate between the hill-side dressing and the valley side dressing. This may be caused by tangling of the root system (Table 4 and 5).
4. The fourth experiment was on the comparison of the dressing methods of fertilizers. The sheet dressing method, in which fertilizers were applied all over the soil under the tree crown, was superior to the crown-skirt dressing method, in which fertilizers were applied as a band around the periphery of the crown, in relation to the absorption rate of applied phosphorus (Fig. 4, Table 6).

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1. The influcence of light during vernalization on stock (Mathiola incana) was studied with varieties, Hatsuyuki, Ball's Lavender, American Beauty and Branching Peace.
2. Continuous lighting during chilling at 10°C resulted. in a high percentage of budding and flowering, while artificial short day (8 hours) resulted in a low percentage.
3. Light given prior to vernalization affected budding. Namely, the percentage of budding was higher in the plants that received continuous lighting at young stage than those that received short day-length.

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A study was made to clarify the problem “nutri-tion and blindness” in gladiolus. According to the design showh in Table 1. three corms each of Spot-light variety (average weight 25. 7g) were planted in sand in Wagners pots on May 26, 1958 and nutritional treatments were made from June 17 to September 13 at 3 day intervals during the course of experiments.
Samplings for the chemical analysis were made at the time of flowering, August 21, and at the time of digging, November 5, 1958. Date of flowering, height of plants, number of leaves, and number of florets were recorded at flowering time. Fresh wegihts of tops, of new corms, and of cormels, and number of cormels were measured at digging time. The results obtained are summarized as follows:
1. No significant differences were observed in percentage of flowering, height of plants, number of leaves, and number of florets, even though there were a few blind stalks in -N and several other plots.
2. Earlier flowering was observed in the plots treated with N 200_??_100 ppm and P 50 ppm, and later flowering in -N plots.
3. The color of leaves in the plots supplied with N 50 ppm or -N was yellowish-green, which clearly showed the N deficient symptom, and these plants. showed weaker growth than the others. In the plots: of N 200ppm, the color of leaves showed dark greenb and the plants looked vigorous, but the color of roots: was dark brown and the development of root system, was poor.
4. Fresh weight of tops and of new corms were increased with an increase of nitrogen.
5. Number of cormels was increased in the plots-supplied with low level nitrogen, and decreased remarkably in N 200ppm plots. There was no significant difference in the fresh weight of cormels.
6. Absorption of nitrogen increased with increas-ing of nitrogen supply regardless of application ra-tes of phosphorus or potassium. With increasing of phosphorus increased not only P absorption but also N absorption, except the plot supplied with phos-phorus alone. With increasing potassium increasedi K absorption-slightly when it was supplied with P 25_??_50 ppm or N 100 ppm, and decreased when it was supplied with N 200 ppm.
7. From the results mentioned above, it seemss that nitrogen has a strong relation to flowering in gladiolus, and the optimum of nitrogen application in flowering is 100 ppm. And phosphorus promotes. the effect of nitrogen.

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