Page 30 



BETTER FRUIT 



March 



The De Laval Dairy & Separator 

 Company announce that after Janu- 

 ary 1st, 1917, their Seattle branch 

 office will consolidate with the San 

 Francisco office, creating a larger and 

 more efficient office and sales organiza- 

 tion for the entire Pacific Coast. In 

 order to care for the large business of 

 Oregon, Washington and Idaho stocks 

 will be carried at Seattle and Portland 

 as in the past, of their separators. 

 Alpha Engines, Acme Feed Cutters, etc. 

 Mr. J. V. Shepard, extensively known 

 throughout the Northwest, has been 

 transferred from the Seattle office to 

 San Francisco and will continue to act 

 as sales manager for the Northwest 

 territory. 



"Modern Fruit Marketing," by Bliss 

 S. Brown, Professor of Horticulture in 

 the University of Maine, is quite a com- 

 plete treatise on the harvesting and 

 marketing of fruit crops, with several 

 chapters on selling methods and fruit 

 organizations. It covers all the modern 

 phases of harvesting, with splendid 

 illustrations of the different kinds of 

 equipment that are necessary in har- 

 vesting the apple crop, either box or 

 barrel. Published by the Orange Judd 

 Company of New York. 



The Montana State Horticultural 

 meeting was held at Plains, Montana, 

 January 23 to 2.'j. Montana usually 

 holds a splendid meeting with a lot of 

 splendid addresses on important sub- 

 jects to fruitgrowers in that state par- 

 ticularly. 



Profits in Early Spring Tillage 

 Plowing and disking should begin as 

 soon as the soil is in good tillage con- 

 dition. By this practice two distinct 

 benefits are realized in the semi-arid 

 sections of the state, viz., moisture con- 

 servation and the establishment of a 

 granular mulch. In the more humid 

 sections early tillage increases the 

 length of the nitrification period, it 

 aeriates the soil and conserves mois- 

 ture. The results of this practice will 

 insure additional crop yields over late 

 tillage operations. The greatest loss of 

 moisture occurs in the early spring, 

 when the soil is saturated with mois- 

 ture. Henry Holtz, of the Washington 

 Experiment Station, Pullman, gives the 

 results of an experiment showing the 

 inches of water evaporated from soils 

 containing different percentages of soil 

 moisture. 



Per cent of Inches of moisture 



soil moisture evaporated in 24 days 



12 27 



18 40 



24 2.16 



30 4.25 



The moisture in the soil at the time 

 when tillage operations may begin is 

 about 24 to 26 per cent. The above 

 table shows an evaporation of about 

 .3.5 inches in 24 days, or approximately 

 one inch each week. Where moisture 

 is the limiting factor, the conservation 

 of one inch of rainfall is equal to about 

 two and a half bushels of wheat per 

 acre, or its equivalent in other crops. 

 A soil that has a one or two-inch mulch 



will lose only one-fourth to one-eighth 

 as much water as a soil untitled. 



Early plowing develops more avail- 

 able nitrogen and produces a larger 

 crop than late plowing. An experi- 

 mental field at Pullman contained four 

 summer-fallowed plots, two plowed and 

 tilled early (April 5) and two late 

 (June 10). The plots tilled early devel- 

 oped 497 pounds of nitrates and yielded 

 47.7 bushels of wheat per acre. The 

 plots tilled late developed 338 pounds 

 of nitrates and yielded 34.6 bushels per 

 acre, or a decrease of 13.1 bushels of 

 wheat per acre. Considering the ex- 

 pense of operation, faxes, etc., $12 per 

 acre for the late spring tillage and $14 

 for the early spring tillage, with the 

 price of wheat at $1 per bushel, there 

 would be a net return of $33.70 for the 

 early and .$22.60 for the late tillage 

 plots, or a ditTerence of $11.10 in favor 

 of early tillage. — Bulletin of State Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Pullman, 

 Washington. 



The Massachusetts Fruit Growers' 

 Association held their convention in 

 Springfield, Massachusetts, January 9- 

 12, inclusive. This is one of the most 

 progressive fruitgrowers' associations 

 in any of the Eastern States. 



The Mt. Arbor Nursery, Shenandoah, 

 Iowa, has recently incorporated with 

 capital stock of $300,000. Mr. E. S. 

 Welch, who has been at the head of the 

 institution since 1891, has been selected 

 as president. 



