HORTICULTUKE. 839 



from material gathered throughout a period of three years show very little, if 

 any, difference between the stages reached at a given date in different years 

 until well toward blossoming time, when the buds apparently become more 

 responsive to external conditions. In the buds under observation the sepals, 

 petals, and outermost cycle of stamens were easily recognizable by the fiftli 

 of August. By the middle of September the petals have become longer and 

 wider, the stamens show frequently the bi-lobed appearance, the other two 

 cycles of stamens have appeared and are well differentiated, and in many cases 

 the carpels are already of fair size. Between this time and the last of No- 

 vember the most striking change is in the carpels, which by the latter date 

 have enlarged considerably. Carpels are also beginning at this time in the side 

 buds. Material gathered the middle of February showed little or no change 

 in the terminal blossoms but pollen mother-cell formation in the side buds is 

 evident. During February and March the pistils begin to push up rapidly and 

 the ovules appear. The petals and stamens appear to have completed their 

 development and to be awaiting the expanding of the blossoms. 



A partial attempt was made to ascertain whether there is any difference 

 among varieties in the time of fruit bud formation. The buds were examined 

 from a number of different varieties on August 7, 1913. Although no con- 

 clusion can be drawn from this study the work as far as it went showed be- 

 yond probability that there is some little difference between varieties in their 

 respective times of fruit bud formation, or at least as manifested in the de- 

 velopment of the bud at the time wdien the samples were taken. In relation 

 to the periods of ripening or to the times of blossoming the relative develop- 

 ment in August has no exact correspondence. There is, however, more agree- 

 ment with times of blossoming than with the period of ripening. A hasty 

 examination of material gathered from the same trees in December, 1913, 

 indicated an approach to a uniform winter stage for the different varieties. 



An apple orchard survey of Berkeley County, E. C. Atjchtek (West Vir- 

 ginia Sta. Bui. 151 (1915), pp. 3-75, pi. 1, figs. 25).— This bulletin presents the 

 results of a survey of the commercial apple orchards in Berkeley County, made 

 during the summers of 1912 and 1913. Information is also given relative to the 

 importance and distribution of the other fruit industries in Berkeley County, 

 together with statistics on the fruit industries of West Virginia as a whole. 



The survey included a total of 217 orchards of 5 acres or more and compris- 

 ing 11,204.6 acres. Sixty per cent of these trees had not reached bearing age. 

 Only 6 per cent of the total apple trees in the county were over 18 years of age. 

 The largest yields and incomes were obtained from those orchards between 19 

 and 22 years of age. Only a limited amount of data was secured on orchards 

 older than this. The commercial orchards varied in size from 1 to 487 acres. 

 The typical orchard is about 15 acres in area, although the average-sized orchard 

 due to so many large company orchards is 45 acres. Although sufficient data 

 could not be obtained to warrant conclusions as to the relation of size of orchard 

 to yield and income, the survey indicates that the largest orchards are not the 

 most profitable. 



The exposure or slope of the orchards is not an important factor in Berkeley 

 County, since the sites are not steep or hilly. Eighty and five-tenths per cent 

 of the orchards were planted by the square system, usually 30 by 30 ft. apart, 

 although the tendency in later years was to plant 33 by 33 or 36 by 36 ft. apart. 

 Generally only 3 or 4 varieties were found in a commercial orchard. Most of 

 the bearing trees are Ben Davis, York Imperial, Grimes, and Arkansas (^Nlam- 

 moth Black Twig). In recent planting there is a tendency to eliminate Ben 

 Davis and cut down the number of York Imperials, substituting such varieties 

 as Stayman, Winesap, Jonathan, and Delicious. 



