94 STATK POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Young trees generally set little or no fruit the first few years, 

 when they are growing fast, although they may blossom full. 

 With most varieties this earh^ dropping of the blossoms occurs 

 only two or three seasons, but Northern Spy and a few other 

 varieties of apples are often unfruitful ten to thirteen years from 

 this cause. Older trees may show^ the same results if stimulated 

 too highly with nitrogenous fertilizers. The logical remedy is 

 to check this excessive grovv'th of wood by withholding nitrogen 

 or by putting the orchard into sod for a few years. 



If the weather is warm and wet in early spring, conditions are 

 favorable for the growth of fungi and it sometimes happens that 

 fruit blossoms are "blasted" by the early growth of these para- 

 sites. Apple and pear scab may kill the blossoms, but more 

 often it kills the young fruits soon after they are set. Wherever 

 spraying is practiced faithfully, the killing of fruit blossoms by 

 fungi need not occur, especially if one thorough application is 

 made to the trees before the buds open. 



The unfruitfulness which often follows a rain during the 

 blooming season is sometimes confused with self-sterility. A 

 careful fruit-growler watches the weather anxiously when his 

 trees are in blossom, for he knows this is the most critical period 

 in the growth of the crop. Like winter injury to fruit buds, 

 there is no way of preventing this loss except to secure a more 

 favorable location, since it is not in man's power to prevent rain, 

 however much he may be able to induce it by bombarding the 

 sky. 'Nevertheless, it is interesting to know in what way rain 

 decreases the setting of fruit. 



Dr3dng winds during the blossoming season are not common 

 in the East but are often serious in some parts of the West. 

 Luther Burbank, one of our best observers and experimenters in 

 orchard pollination, says a dry wind sometimes causes a short 

 fruit crop in some parts of California by drying up the juices of 

 the stigma so that the pollen cannot germinate. 



SUMMARY. 



Scarcely one fruit blossom in ten sets fruit, even in the most 

 favorable seasons and with the most productive varieties. 



Trees making a very vigorous growth may drop their blos- 

 soms. 



