Page 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



October 



In purely natural conditions there is 

 a pretty safe balance, so that this serv- 

 ice is provided for. The native insects 

 sufiice to pollinate the wild flowers of 

 plain and forest. In our alfalfa fields 

 and great orchards we have so massed 

 the plants that the native insects are all 

 powerless to perform this necessary 

 function. Australia had no bumble 

 bees and red clover would not seed 

 until the bumble bees were introduced. 

 The long flower tube placed the nectar 

 beyond the reach of most insects. Even 

 in Europe and .America bumble bees 

 are very scarce in the early season, and 

 so we depend on the second crop for 

 seed. Our alfalfa blooms are worked on 

 by honey bees, and so any crop is fruit- 

 ful of seed if honey bees are present in 

 great numbers, but here the bloom is 

 like the sands of the sea, and this is 

 why we need the apiary close by the 

 alfalfa field if we are to produce seed. 

 It is usually wise to save the second, 

 third or fourth crop for seed, not only 

 to escaije damaging rains but also that 

 we may be sure that swarms of bees 

 may ])ropcrly pollinate the bloom. 

 What a wealth of bloom of beauty 

 crowns the orchard trees as they fling 

 out their signal cry to all passing in- 

 sects to come and dine and extend to 

 them a life-saving service. How often 

 our fuit trees bloom full only to set no 

 fruit. No pollination, no fruit: no bees, 

 practically no i)ollination. We see 

 then that we must not only mix our 

 varieties wisely, but we must secure 

 bees in the near precincts of our 

 orchards if we would secure large and 

 profitable crops. As we have seen, 

 generous cross-pollination is not only 

 retjuired for full crops, but perfect 

 fruii often requires the same inter- 

 pollination in field, garden and orchard. 



We have a strange abnormality in the 

 navel orange. The stamens produce no 

 pollen; the fruit bears no seeds. Did 

 the secondary orange which results in 

 the navel estop the ])ollen thread in its 

 way to the ovule and thus cause seed- 

 lessness? In this case, why does the 

 tree still fruit? Occasionallv other 

 citrus trees exhibit the same behavior 

 and a few vegetables are known to fruit 

 without seeding. In these cases ab- 

 sence of pollination doubtless exiilains 

 absence of seeds, but why the excep- 

 tional result of fruiting is yet to me at 

 least a real inizzle. 



As bees are the friends of the fruit- 

 grower and of the rancher in general, 

 we should foster their presence and 

 well being at or close by the ranch. 

 This as well as the best success in 

 spraying for the codling moth will pre- 

 clude spraying for this insect until the 

 blossoms (petals) of apple, pear and 

 quince fall from the tree. This is the 

 proper time, and earlier spraying often 

 kills not only the adult bees but also 

 the brood. We all ought to adopt the 

 motto, "Never spray our orchards with 

 arsenites until the blossoms fall," and 

 preach this to all our neighbors. We 

 must remember that bees are the good 

 and necessary friends to the successful 

 pomologist. We should also remember 

 that bees never injure sound fruit, but 



are fond of ripe fruit and are quick to 

 attack it when other insect, bird or 

 weather wounds it. 



A word regarding pear blight. It is 

 quite certain that flreblight and twig 

 blight of pome fruits are spread rap- 

 idly by insects, and bees of course aid 

 in this dispersion. We have all ob- 

 served how rapidly pome blight 

 spreads at the season of bloom in pear, 

 apple and (piince orchards. That bees 

 are the most numerous visitors of the 

 flowers at this time is of course true. 

 That the germs of the disease are thick 

 in the nectar is also unquestioned. Yet 

 other insects are just as able to carry 

 the blight germs as are bees, and are 

 sufficiently abundant to do most serious 

 harm. If the bees were removed, the 

 blight would spread very likely as 

 rapidly and work as fatally as with the 

 bees swarming on the bloom. Other 

 insects abound sufiiciently to spread 

 the blight, but not in numbers requisite 

 for proper pollination of the bloom or 

 full production of fruit. 



In years like the present we shall al- 

 ways find it necessary to fight this 

 insidious bacterial disease in case it is 



present in our neighborhood. The 

 great and effective cure is very thor- 

 ough i)runing, so thorough that every 

 vestige of the diseased tissue is removed 

 from twigs, branches, trunk and roots, 

 and we must be equally insistent that 

 after each cutting, chisel, knife or 

 shears is thoroughly disinfected by use 

 of a one-to-one-thousand solution of 

 corrosive sublimate — bichloride of 

 mercury. 



Co-operation of Ozark Fruit Growers 



The satisfaction of the fruit growers 

 in co-operation is evidenced by the fact 

 that in 1912 the Ozark Fruit Growers' 

 Association of Monett, Missouri, han- 

 dled fruit from twenty-seven different 

 loading stations and increased to forty- 

 seven stations in 1013. 



Blight in some districts of the North- 

 west has been rather more serious this 

 year than in the past, while in other 

 districts no cases of blight have been 

 reported. In the districts where blight 

 is prevalent an aggressive campaign has 

 been organized for the purpose of con- 

 trolling the disease. 



Correct Cost of Orchard Management 



onk-o of Infciininlion, United States Department of .\giicultnie] 



WHAT does it cost to run an 

 orchard? Plan of cost accounting 

 for apple-orchard operation for fruit- 

 growers wishing to find out the annual 

 cost of managing an orchard has been 

 outlined by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The method pre- 

 sented is the result of records cover- 

 ing nineteen years' work in several 

 New York orchards. The bulletin gives 

 details for two years" work on one of 

 these orchards. The method is appli- 

 cable to all similar operations. The 

 orchard for which the details are given 

 is over fifty years old and well located 

 for the production of fruit. It con- 

 sists of nearly fifteen acres and con- 

 tains 527 trees. The total annual cost 

 of the operation of the orchard during 

 the two years covered by the detailed 

 studies w^as divided into labor, cash 

 and fixed costs. Nine hundred and 

 thirty-seven marketable barrels of 

 apples were produced the first season 

 for a total operating cost of $1,217.92. 

 Two thousand one hundred and four 

 barrels were produced the second year 

 at a total expen.se of .¥2,12.").C9. In the 

 table given below, the labor costs refer 

 to the man and horse labor; the cash 

 costs cover the ex])ense of manure, 

 spraying, barrels and seed for cover 

 crop; the fixed costs included the use 

 of machinery, land rental and overhead 

 exiienses. The distribution of costs in 

 the orchard during the two years was 

 as given in Table I. 



Two elements of cost have not been 

 measured in these estimates, namely, 

 the cost of creating the orchard and the 

 depreciation of the orchard as its pro- 

 duction declines as the result of ad- 

 vancing age. The ijresence of insect 

 pests and fungous diseases and the 

 thoroughness of their control also will 

 have their influence on the life of the 



orchard. The two years' study on the 

 farm in question have not yielded suffi- 

 cient data on this particular item to 

 warrant definite conclusions. AH apple 

 growers, therefore, should bear this 

 factor in mind. The item included 

 under "fixed" costs .should vary little 

 from year to year. The land rental, in- 

 cluding interest and taxes, is about six 

 per cent. For this particular orchard 

 it will be noted that the fixed costs ap- 

 proximate twenty dollars a year per 

 acre. The details of the items of cash 

 costs are as shown in Table II. 



The cost of growing apples is less- 

 ened by growing them in connection 

 with other farm crops and utilizing the 

 man and horse labor on these other 

 crops when they are not needed in the 

 orcliard. The experiences of the best 

 apple growers in old apple-producing 

 regions indicate that proper manage- 

 ment of a well-diversified farm is as 

 important a factor in profitable apple 

 raising as the use of different cultural 

 methods, reduction of packing cost, or 

 even cheaper wages for help. 



The farm in question consists of 122 

 acres. Fifty per cent of this area is 

 devoted to general crops other than 

 fruit, and of the 39 acres devoted to 

 fruit only about 15 are used for apple 

 raising. Enough hay, oats and corn are 

 raised on the farm for feed. Potatoes 

 are raised, but only for home use. 

 Wheat and beans, as well as the fruit, 

 are cash crojis. Each year twenty or 

 thirty sheep are kept and pastured dur- 

 ing the summer. I.ambs are raised 

 and fattened during the early spring 

 months. Six horses are kept for work 

 and one for family use. One or two 

 colls are raised each year. 



'file actual costs given are not the 

 most important result of this study, as 



