448 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Careless planting-, followed by neglect, gave the most marked effect, 

 in 1803 the growth being only 7 per cent, leaf size 25 per cent, total leaf 

 area 16 per cent, and the following year the fruit only 5 per cent as 

 much as under normal treatment. As to the separate items constitut- 

 ing neglect, in 1894 the leaf size was diminished by the growth of weeds 

 in the orchard 44 per cent, by planting in untrenched ground 17 per 

 cent, by absence of manure 23 per cent, etc. The growth of grass about 

 the trees diminished the leaf size of dwarf apples 35 per cent, and of 

 standards 41 per cent; the wood growth of dwarfs 87 per cent, aud of 

 standards 74 per cent; and the crop of fruit of standards 71 per cent. 

 The authors believe that the dry seasons are accountable for the marked 

 effect of grass and weeds on the growth of the trees. Failure to cut 

 back trees when planted lessened the leaf size 24 per cent and the wood 

 growth 83 per cent. No definite conclusions have been reached with 

 regard to summer vs. autumn pruning. Trees that were root pruned 

 the first year after planting made 01 per cent less growth than trees 

 that were not root pruned. Autumn planted trees grew much less vigor- 

 ously than spring planted ones. No very definite results have been as 

 yet obtained from experiments with different manures. A number of 

 illustrations are given showing the effect of different kinds of treatment 

 on the growth of trees. 



The results obtained with 80 varieties of strawberries in 1890 are 

 tabulated so as to show the actual and relative productiveness and size 

 of the fruit of plants at the ages of 1 and 2 years. Data as to the 

 flavor of the fruit, habit of the plant, and duration of fruiting period 

 are also given. The average total weight of the crops of all varieties 

 from 2-year old plants was 68 per cent more than from 1-year-old plants. 

 The average weight of individual berries, however, was 28 per cent 

 greater from the 1-year-old plants than from the 2-year-old ones. The 

 application of water and liquid manures to strawberries after the fruit 

 had set gave no increase in the crop, but retarded its ripening some- 

 what. 



Thinning fruit, S. A. Beach (Eastern New York Horticulturist, 1 

 (1897), No. 2, p. 7). — This paper, read before the Hudson Valley Horti- 

 cultural Society, gives the results of experiments in thinning apples in 

 1896. From a Baldwin tree, heavily loaded with fruit, all wormy, 

 knotty, and otherwise inferior fruit was removed and all clusters 

 thinned to one fruit. A similar tree was left unthinned for comparison. 

 The thinned tree yielded about 14 per cent less marketable fruit than 

 the other tree, but 10 per cent more of its fruit graded No. 1, aud it had 

 only one-third as many culls. Three trees each of Baldwin and Green- 

 ing were thinned as in the first case and in addition enough more fruit 

 was removed to leave the remaining fruit 4 inches apart. Three trees 

 each of the same varieties were left without thinning for comparison. 

 The thinned Baldwins gave about 21 per cent less marketable fruit 

 than the unthinned ones, but 22 per "cent more of if graded No. 1. The 

 thinned Greenings gave about 6 percent more marketable fruit than 



