18 



THE CONTROL OF APPLE BITTER-ROT. 



until the trees came into bearing, or about twelve to fifteen years. 

 Then the land was usually left uncultivated. A portion of it, includ- 

 ing the experimental block, is now in sod, having been seeded to 

 orchard grass in 1902. 



According to Mr. Goodwin, bitter-rot first appeared in this orchard 

 to a noticeable extent in 1899, and in 1901 it did considerable damage. 

 In 1903 the trees received three earlv applications of Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, and on September 13 of that year the writer visited the orchard 

 and roughh' estimated the loss from })itter-rot at 40 per cent. When 

 the crop was harvested, a few days later, Mr. Goodwin estimated the 

 loss at about 60 per cent. Since 90 per cent of the crop was lost in 



some unsprayed or- 

 chards in the same 

 neighborhood, it 

 appeared that the 

 treatment had some 

 effect. In 1904 there 

 was no crop." 



THE EXPERIMENTAL 

 TREES. 



Only the Yellow 

 Newtown variety 

 was used in this ex- 

 periment, the Wine- 

 sap and York Im- 

 perial not being 

 subject to serious 

 loss from rot in this 

 section. As ma}" 

 be seen from the ac- 

 companying plat 

 (fig. 1), 35 trees 

 were included in the experiment. They are 19 years old and about 26 

 feet high, with a spread of about 25 feet. These trees have been 

 pruned by thinning out the conflicting branches, and have developed 

 into the broad, low, somewhat pyramidal type naturally assumed by 

 this variety. The block is situated below the middle of the orchard, 

 with 23-_year-old trees of the same variet}- on the east and a young- 

 orchard not 3'et in l)earing on the west. Below (north side) is a block 

 of young bearing trees of the same variety, the crop of which, not 

 being properly sprayed, rotted badl3\ On the upper side is a block 

 of voung trees not 3'et in bearing. 



Plat of the block of trees used in the experiment. 



«As a rule, apple trees in this section, especially the Yellow Newtown, bear only 

 every other year. 



