BETTER FRUIT 



STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON— C. I. Lewis. Horticulturist, t'orvallls. 



WASHINGTON — Dr. A. L. Melander. EmomolOBlst : 

 O. M. Morris. Horticulturist; W. S. Thomber. Horticul- 

 turist. Pullman. 



COLORADO— C. P. Gillette, Director and Entomoloirtst : 

 E. B. House. Chief of Department of Civil and Irrigation 

 Engineering. State Agricultural College. Fort Collins. 



ARIZONA— E. P. Taylor. Horticulturist. Tucson. 



WISCONSIN— Dr. E. D. Ball. Director and Entomologist. 

 Madison. 



MONTANA— O. B. Whipple. Horticulturist. Bozeman. 



CALIFORNIA — C. W. Woodnorth. EntomoloBlst. Berke- 

 ley: W. H. Volck. Entomologist. Walsonville; Leon D. 

 Batchelor. Horticulturist. Riverside. 



INDIANA— H. S. J.ick8on. Pathologist. Lafayette. 



An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Interests 



of Modern, Progressive Fruit Growing 



and Marketing. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



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PORTLAND, OREGON 



Volume XIII 



Portland, Oregon, January 1, 1919 



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Entered as second-class matter April 22, 1918, 



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the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. 



Number 7 



Premature Deterioration in Fruit 



Address by C. I. Lewis, Chief, Division of Horticulture, 0. A.C., before Oregon State Horticultural Society, Roseburg, December 5, 6 and 7, 1918 



DURING the past two falls there 

 has been a pretty general com- 

 plaint from the fruit growers of 

 Oregon that much of their fruit was 

 deteriorating prematurely. The deteri- 

 orations in question are varied in their 

 character, and can be attributed to two 

 chief causes; first, climatic, and, second, 

 to cultural or orchard methods. We 

 must remember that the Pacific North- 

 west has had two of the driest seasons 

 in its history and that the past seasons 

 have not only been unusually dry but 

 very hot. Strange as it may seem, Sep- 

 tember, our early harvesting month, 

 was the hottest month of the entire 

 year. In fact, it was so hot for several 

 days during September that much of 

 the fruit was severely burned on the 

 tree. Under such conditions we may 

 naturally expect certain deteriorations 

 or troubles to arise. 



To make matters worse, we have 

 coupled unfavorable climatic conditions 

 with careless tillage, irrigation, spray- 

 ing, etc., encouraging such trouble to 

 become aggravated and more severe. 

 Again, severe drouth has caused an 

 early maturity of the fruit. In fact, 

 many apples which ordinarily do not 

 mature until the middle or latter part 

 of September should have been picked 

 this last season the latter part of 

 August or the first of September. Yet 

 many growers failed to sense the differ- 

 ence in the condition of their fruit and 

 allowed the fruit to hang on the trees 

 far too late. If there is one general 

 criticism that I would make of the 

 apple growers of the Pacific Northwest 

 as regards the time and methods of 

 harvesting their apples, 1 would say 

 that it was that we pick our apples too 

 late, especially our summer, fall and 

 early-winter varieties. We are so 

 anxious to secure the maximum of 

 color that we allow the fruit to deteri- 

 orate before we take it from the trees. 

 During unusually hot and dry seasons 

 as we have just past the color does not 

 develop as much as normally, and when 

 color does come on it seems to come 

 very late. A few rains in the fall, a 

 sharp frost and general changes in the 

 weather encourage the formation of 

 color on the fruit more than hot dry 

 weather. There is no question at all 

 but what a large percentage of such 



varieties as Gravensteins, Grimes, Win- 

 ter Bananas, Jonathans and Spitzen- 

 bergs were allowed to hang on the 

 trees far too long this past fall, and in 

 a few cases where the trees have 

 suffered from drouth even some of our 

 varieties like the Yellow Newtowns 

 were allowed to remain beyond the 

 proper date for picking. Owing to the 

 lateness in picking some varieties of 

 apples seem to have a tendency to 

 develop a sort of core rot or decay just 

 around the core. This trouble is seem- 

 ingly more pronounced in such varie- 

 ties as the Jonathan, Delicious, Graven- 

 stein and Ortley. Some varieties have 

 a tendency to develop a premature mel- 

 lowness, or dryness, become devoid of 

 juice and unpalatable. This condition 

 is almost invariably due to over- 

 maturity on the trees and commonly 

 attacks such varieties as Spitzenbergs, 

 Jonathans, Baldwins, Delicious and 

 Wageners. In fact, nearly all of the fall 

 and early-winter varieties are subject 

 to this deterioration. 



Cracking of the fruit was quite pro- 

 nounced this past year, and as far as 

 apples are concerned this cracking 

 seems to be due very largely to early 

 maturity. In tillage experiments and 

 irrigation experiments we' have con- 

 ducted we have found the check plots 

 were the ones that suffered the most 

 from cracking either the calyx or about 

 the stem. This was due partly to the 

 fact that the dry checks matured their 

 fruit earlier and it should have been 

 picked sooner than we generally prac- 

 tice. You are all aware how Red 

 Astrachan apples will crack when they 

 are over-developed on the trees. This 

 cracking seems to have attacked nearly 

 all varieties, especially where they are 

 suffering for want of moisture, and the 

 later the the fruit hangs on the tree the 

 more serious becomes the cracking. 

 Cracking will sometimes occur on fruit 

 after it is packed and stored. This is 

 apt to be associated with fruit that has 

 been kept too long. Such specimens 

 generally have a mealiness or dryness 

 of flesh. Also over-green specimens 

 are subject to this trouble. 



The cracking of some of our soft 

 fruits like cherries, prunes, etc., seems 

 to be due to an entirely different cause 

 and it is generally found to be worse 



right immediately after a heavy rain. 

 During this past season, especially in 

 the drier sections, there has been some 

 trouble from drouth spots, cork and 

 similar troubles which are closely asso- 

 ciated and which all seem to have their 

 origin in a lack of moisture or food for 

 the tree. As the season advances these 

 troubles seem to become more and 

 more aggravated since the trees are 

 suffering more and more for want of 

 moisture. With many of our red apples 

 as the Spitzenberg, Jonathan and 

 Baldwin there is a noticeable spotting 

 on the flesh and a slight depression 

 takes place and very soon becomes 

 dark. This condition is very com- 

 monly known as the Jonathan spot and 

 it is certainly aggravated by allowing 

 the fruit to stay on the trees too long, 

 and secondly by keeping the fruit in 

 poorly-ventilated places after it is har- 

 vested. Over-maturity plus poor storage 

 will cause the appearance of much of 

 this trouble. 



There has been a great deal of so- 

 called fruit pit, dry rot, etc., during the 

 past year. Investigators in Australia, 

 the United States and Europe have been 

 working many years on this problem. 

 None so far have carried their investi- 

 gations to a point where they can defi- 

 nitely explain the appearance of this 

 trouble under all conditions. All are 

 satisfied that it is functional and due to 

 some disturbance in the nutrition and 

 moisture supply of the tree. In our 

 work in the Hood River Valley since 

 1912, we have been able to eliminate to 

 a very large extent much of these 

 troubles. This has been brought about 

 by giving the soil more nitrogen, en- 

 couraging the growing of alfalfa and 

 clover, and encouraging a little more 

 careful study of irrigation and avoid- 

 ing excessive irrigation on the one 

 hand or lack of irrigation on the other. 

 Not only has such a condition elimi- 

 nated a large amount of fruit pit but 

 has likewise eliminated a great deal of 

 so-called rosette, little leaf, or die-back. 

 Abnormal trees seem to be affected 

 more than those in normal condition. 

 That is, a tree that is growing too vig- 

 orously and producing overgrown fruit 

 generally has a good deal of fruit pit. 

 Likewise a tree which has fruit that is 

 very small and poorly developed often 



