46 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 150. 



On section 25 the treatment was continued for eleven hours and was 

 applied after twelve and one-half hours of complete flooding without 

 treatment. 



On section 27 the duration of the treatment was about eleven hours 

 and as with section 25 followed twelve and one-half hours of complete 

 flooding without treatment. 



When the first treatment was applied to these sections the blossom 

 buds were well developed and prominent, and when the second treatment 

 was applied they were approaching near to blooming, there being here 

 and there a blossom alreadj^ opened. The treatment did not appear to 

 affect the buds on sections 25 and 27 injuriously in any way. Some of 

 those on section 23, however, were spotted shghtly, showing that the 

 solution used had probably been fully as strong as was desirable. 



The strength of the solution used on section 23 was recommended to 

 me by Dr. Shear, as the result of laboratoiy experiments wliich he had 

 conducted. Unfortunately, spanworms worked seriously on section 23 

 and reduced the crop to such an extent as to destro}^ the resiilts of the 

 experiment so far as the amount of the fruit might give an}^ evidence 

 concerning the effect of the treatment. 



At picking time sections 25 and 27 yielded fruit at approximately the 

 same rate as the untreated flooding sections immediatelj^ adjacent, while 

 section 23 showed a marked falling off. These sections were picked on 

 September 2. 



The berries from all the flooding sections were tested for keeping quaUty, 

 the period of storage extending from October 29 to December 17. The 

 treated sections 25 and 27 showed httle if any improvement over the 

 untreated sections. The berries from section 23 seemed to keep better 

 than those from the other flooding sections, but the difference was not 

 sufficiently marked to justify the conclusion that the copper sulphate 

 treatment had been decidedly beneficial. 



4. VARIETIES. 



Investigations looking toward the possible development of more desir- 

 able and more proUfic varieties were continued, especiallj^ prolific vines 

 of the late Howe and Vose's Bell varieties being marked for observation 

 next season. Some interesting and apparently valuable sports of the 

 Late Howe variety were also found and were marked. Unfortunately, 

 the majority of the uprights, marked in previous years on account of their 

 prolificness, did not bear well in 1913, though there were a few exceptions. 



Samples of the berries of most of the different varieties gro"WTi on the 

 Cape were collected in October. Samples of vines were also collected 

 where it was possible to get them without too much trouble. Later these 

 samples were studied more or less carefuU}', and the varieties which ap- 

 peared to be mixtures of two or more distinct varieties were separated in 

 a general way into their component parts. From these collected samples 

 smaller samples, numbering in all 180, were taken and bottled in alcohol 



