EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 283 



Wiuegar's orchard at Morrice. Many commercially prepared sprays 

 are now being offered on the markets for use by our fruit growers and 

 we find it necessary to test these before recommending them as desirable 

 sprays to use. The increased cost of spraying materials due to the present 

 abnormal condition of the market for many of these has also made it 

 necessary for us to ascertain how weak many of these sprays may be ap- 

 plied to prove efficient while in former years it was rather a question 

 of how strong they could be used Avithout injuring the fruit or the 

 foliage. 



Our experiments along the lines of commercial fertilizers for tree 

 fruits, thinning apples and freezing experiments on fruits are being 

 continued as outlined in previous reports. 



In addition to these, we have started some very important experi- 

 ments along the line of critical temperature studies on the various 

 fruits during their development in the spring, starting just before the 

 blossoming period when fruits are susceptible to slight freezes and fol- 

 lowing through this dangerous period of their development until after 

 danger of spring frosts has past. These experiments, we hoped to cor- 

 relate with some outdoor tests in orchard heating but unfortunately, 

 no severe frosts occurred during this period the past spring. 



With the wonderful collection of varieties of fruits available at our 

 South Haven Experiment grounds, we are now beginning to make 

 studies on the inherent characters of these varieties in crosses. Mr. 

 Bock has been engaged in making crosses of all the fruits during their 

 flowering periods and seeds of these crosses will be saved for future 

 work. After these characters of our standard varieties have been as- 

 certained, we will have a foundation for intelligent work in improving 

 by crossing our present standard varieties. 



On the farm of Mr. George Low at Bangor, Michigan, we have made 

 a number of grafts on Concord grapes with the important commercial 

 varieties of Vinifera grapes such as are at present grown in California. 

 It is our plan to protect these vines during the winter by burying the 

 canes in the soil. If such varieties can be groAvn successfully and pro- 

 tected economically, it Avill prove a great addition to the fruit industry 

 of this State. 



Records have been obtained for two seasons on the bearing habits of 

 Spy trees in the orchard of Luther Hall, of Ionia, and of Baldwin trees 

 in the orchard of B. F. Hall of Belding. This work is being carried on 

 in cooperation with the Office of Pomological Investigations at Wash- 

 ington. Records are kept of each tree as to size, yield and peculiarities 

 of the fruit. This work we are continuing and hope also to carry on 

 with grapes and other fruits. 



Records have also been kept of carnation plants and cuttings of 

 several standard varieties have been gathered from the various florists 

 in this State to determine if there is any benefit in taking cuttings for 

 propagation from plants which have borne a large number of good 

 (luality flowers. We ho])e to enlarge upon our experiments with green- 

 house crojis in the near fuluie when our new greenhouses are erected. 



Respectfully submitted, 



C. P. HALLIGAN, 

 Acting Horticulturist. 



East Lansing, June 30, 191G. 



