ANNUAL REPORT, 1942 51 



Studies of Varieties of Fruits. (J. K. Shaw and Staff.) 



Apples. Anoka has fruited for several years. It is not equal to Duchess for 

 commercial purposes, and its only value for us is its tendency to fruit very early 

 in its life. 



Close is an earh' apple, first sent out as U.S.D.A. 57. It is fairly promising 

 as a red early apple of Yellow Transparent season, but variable in size and 

 shape. 



Webster is a large red apple originated at the New York Experiment Station. 

 It is attractive in size, shape, and color and begins to bear early but is suitable 

 for cooking onh-. 



Van Buren is reported to be a bud sport of Duchess. It is remarkable in that 

 nursery trees can be distinguished from Duchess. We know of no other bud sport 

 in propagation that can be so distinguished from the parent variety. It is promis- 

 ing to replace Duchess if one wants better color. 



Pears. Two Bartlett-like pears, Berger and Conference, have come into 

 bearing. Berger seems to be the more promising, but it remains to be seen whether 

 it can compete with the well-established Bartlett. Conference seemed not equal 

 to Bartlett. 



Peaches. N. J. 105. Large, yellow-fleshed, attractive, freestone, flesh fine to 

 firm, should be good shipper, quality good but not outstanding, will bear watching. 

 Ripe August 20. 



N. J. 102. Large, attractive, yellow-fleshed, freestone, excellent quality, fine- 

 textured firm flesh, ripens a few days ahead of N. J. 105. Looks very promising. 



Red Rose. Flavor tart and slightly astringent even when ripe, disappointing. 



Blueberries. GN-87. A small crop was produced on a budded bush. The 

 berries were very large, firm, short-stemmed, oblate, very good blue, very attrac- 

 tive, and very good flavor. The clusters were large and compact making picking 

 a little hard. Skins tore some during picking. Season late medium to late. Had 

 some mumm\ berry. Looks very promising. 



Scammell. This variety performed much better than ever before. It yielded 

 more and larger berries, and berry size held up better during the season. Never- 

 theless, the Aield is still too light for 't to compete with commercially recommended 

 varieties. 



Raspberries. Tahoma is a bright red berry, not firm and of poor quality. So 

 far it does not seem promising for Massachusetts. 



Washington is a large, firm berry of good quality. Worthy of further testing. 



Mercy continues to promise well. It seems superior to Taylor, and may prove 

 worthv of cultivation here. 



Nature of Winter Hardiness in the Raspberry. (R. A. Van Meter and A. P. 

 French.) A plantation of 22 raspberry varieties was set in the spring of 1942, 

 including the hardiest varieties and those most susceptible to injury by cold. 

 Preliminary trials of canes from older plantations suggest that the buds of vari- 

 eties most often injured by low temperatures have very short rest periods. 



