The examination and test of containers to determine whether they comply with the provisions of the act are made duties of the department, and the Secretary of Agriculture is empowered to establish and promulgate rules and regulations allowing such reasonable tolerances and variations as may be found necessary.

Penalties are provided by the act for the manufacture for shipment, sale for shipment, or shipment in interstate commerce of Climax baskets, and containers for small fruits, berries, and vegetables, not in accord with the standards.  It is provided, however: 

That no dealer shall be prosecuted under the provisions of this act when he can establish a guaranty signed by the manufacturer, wholesaler, jobber, or other party residing within the United States from whom such Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers, as defined in this act, were purchased, to the effect that said Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers are correct within the meaning of this act.  Said guaranty, to afford protection, shall contain the name and address of the party or parties making the sale of Climax baskets, baskets, or other containers, to such dealer, and in such case said party or parties shall be amenable to the prosecutions, fines, and other penalties which would attach in due course to the dealer under the provisions of this act.—­Department of Agriculture.

[Illustration:  A PLANT-CHIMERA:  TWO VARIETIES OF APPLE IN ONE.

Golden Russet and Boston Stripe combined in the same fruit, as the result of a graft.  Trees producing these apples bear only a few fruits of this combination; the rest of the crop belongs entirely to one or other of the two varieties concerned.  The explanation of these chimeras is that the original buds of the scion failed to grow, after the graft was made, but an adventitious bud arose exactly at the juncture of stock and scion, and included cells derived from both.  These cells grow side by side but remain quite distinct in the same stem, each kind of cell reproducing its own sort.  From “Journal of Heredity,” May, 1914.  Published by the “American Genetic Association,” Washington, D. C.]

The Rhubarb Plant.

LUDVIG MOSBAEK, ASKOV.

Rhubarb, or pieplant, as it is more commonly called, is one of the hardiest and at the same time a most delicious fruit.  When the stalks are used at the right stage and given the proper care by the cook, they are almost equal to fresh peaches.

Rhubarb can be transplanted every month in the year, but the best time is early spring or August.  There are especially two things rhubarb will not stand, “wet feet and deep planting.”  Most beneficial is good natural or artificial drainage and rich soil, made so by a good coat of manure, plowed or spaded in, and a liberal top dressing every fall, cultivated or hoed in on the top soil the next spring.  Fifty plants or divisions of a good tender variety planted 3 to 4 feet apart will supply an average household with more delicious fresh fruit and juice for six months of the year than five times the space of ground devoted to currants, gooseberries or any other fruit, and if you have from 50 to 100 plants you can afford to pick the first stalk that sprouts up in April and still figure on having an abundance to keep you well supplied all summer.