534 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



Summer pruning resulted in less marketable fruit per tree than either winter 

 pruning or no pruning, and in this orchard has proved neither profitable nor 

 successful in increasing the crop yield. Winter-pruned Jonathans produced 

 more fruit than the unpruued trees, but with winter-pruned Ganos the reverse 

 was true. The effect of summer pruning was practically the same whether per- 

 formed early or late in the season. 



The color of the fruit on the several plats has not varied materially, except 

 on the unpruned plat, where the color has gradually become slightly inferior. 

 The size of the fruit was largely equalized by thinning the fruit on the several 

 plats. Fruit production appears to lluctuate more from year to year on the 

 winter-pruned trees than on either the summer-pruned or the unpruned trees. 



Under the conditions of this experiment young, vigorous, bearing apple trees 

 of the Jonathan and Gano varieties show a tendency to overbear soon after 

 reaching a productive age and are usually thinned. Summer pruning reduces 

 the area of fruit-bearing wood, the vitality of the tree, and the productivity. 



The handling and shipping of fresh cherries and prunes from the Wil- 

 lamette Valley, H. J. R.\m.sey (U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 331 (1916), pp. 2S. figs. 

 11). — This bulletin gives the results of handling and precooling experiments 

 with sweet cherries and prunes conducted during the seasons of 1911 and 1913 

 by B. B. Pratt, A. W. McKay, G. M. Darrow, and G. W. Dewey. The investi- 

 gation, which was carried on in cooperation with the growers in the vicinity 

 of Salem, Oreg., had for its object a determination of the relation of handling 

 and precooling to the decay of the above fruits in transit and on the market 

 when shipped in a fresh state. 



The results of the experimental work with both clicrries and prunes serve 

 further to corroborate the results of similar work with oranges, lemons, 

 apples, pears, and other fruits (E. S. R., 33, p. 642; 34, p. 235) and to 

 empliasize the gi'eat importance of the most careful handling in preparing 

 fruit for shiimient. Most of the losses due to mold fungi can be prevented 

 by careful handling. Although the experiments fully demonstrated the value 

 of precooling in reducing losses during shipment, to be most effective the 

 fruit should be properly hamlU'd in harvesting, thoroughly and promptly 

 precooled, and transferred to the refrigerator cars without exposure to the 

 warmer outside temperatures. 



Directions for blueberry culture. 1916, F. V. Co\aLLE (V. S. Dcpt. .Apr. Bui. 

 33Jt (1915), pp. 16, pis. 17). — The present bulletin is a revision of the author's 

 original paper which appeared in 1913 as a part of Circular 122 of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry (E. S. R., 29, p. 148). This bulletin discusses the special 

 requirements of blueberry plants, importance. of superior varieties, methods 

 of propagation, fiehl planting, yields, and profits. 



Data are given on the yields and receipts of a 2..>acre plantation of wild 

 blueberries near Elkhart. Ind., for the period between 1910 and 191.1. when 

 the plantation was from 21 to 26 years old. The average for the six years 

 is receipts $243.44 per acre and profits ^116 per acre. 



In view of the present knowledge relative to the soil requirements of 

 blueberry plants (E. S. R.. 24, p. 443). together with the possibility of 

 growing large improved varieties, the author is of the opinion that blueberry 

 culture gives promise as a profitable industry to individual landowners in 

 districts in which general agricultural conditions are especially hard and 

 unpromising. The work conducted with blueberries also suggests the possibility 

 of the further utilization of such lands by means of other crops adapted 

 to acid conditions. 



Smyrna fig growing in California, II. IMAnK.\Ri.\N (.1/0. Bui. Com. Hort. 

 Cal., 5 (1916), Xo. 1, pp. 1-1 'f. figs. 13). — A popular cultural treatise, including 



