-5- 



mouse injury in apple orcliards during the past winter. In years past, an 

 extremely small numter of trees have been injured v/here the "bait was used. 

 This year there has been a slightly Ir.rtjer percentage of injured trees and 

 in a few cases the ovmer h;.s seriously questioned the effectiveness of poison 

 "bait in the control of mice. In no sense of the word has the bait appeared 

 to be a failure and yet a few sgrov/ers who tho'Ut^ht they had used the material 

 as recomraendcd still had a considerable amount of injury. This brings up the 

 question as to the proper method of preventing motise injury in apple orchards. 

 A study of the replies of various growers leads one to believe that the owner 

 himself has a real responsibility in the matter aiid that most of the cases 

 of failure were due either to a heavier tlian usual infestation of mice or to 

 a slip of some kind in the use of the bait. Mouse injurj- began fairly early 

 last fall. This meant a ne od for an early distribution of the material and 

 the use of suitable containers. Whore many mice were present it V7as neces- 

 sary of course to replenish the supply of bait. Some grov/ers try to economize 

 by the use of envelopes, which in seasons of a light infestation have proven 

 quite successful. Perhaps last season was not the season to economize in 

 the matter of mouse insurance. Glass bottles or jars, tin cans, wooden sta- 

 tions, etc., seem to be oixite satisfactory. We have r/niuaber of growers who 

 used the poison bait very extensively and in most cases the results are still 

 highly satisfactory. Until further evidence is presented, we shall maintain 

 that mice can be controlled by the use of poison bait, provided full precau- 

 tions are taken. Incidentally, the removal of sod aroiind the trunk of the 

 tree and its replacement with gravel or cinders is an excellent supplement 

 to the use of poison bait. 



Plant Pl^rsiologists Meet in Storrs . Conn. 



On Ifa^' S and 9. i* '^Q'S our privilege to attend the spring meeting 

 of the plant physiologists of New England. Most of the papers were highly 

 teclnical and of interest mainly to the research worker in that particular 

 field. The average grower would find little interest in a paper on the organic 

 acids of rhubarb leaf tissue, or on the nutrition of seedlings in sand cultures* 

 He would, of course, listen attentively to a tall: on the nutritive value of 

 blueberrios. The major portion of one day was devoted to a syroposium on the 

 subject of light, with particular empliasis on the measurement of light. The 

 importance of light in the growing and frudting of plants is emphasized by the 

 fact that these research v/orkors devoted so much time to the discussion of 

 the problem. Even the casual observer con readily detect differences in the 

 behavior of different parts of the plant as a result of differences in light 

 exposure. The little green apples on the inside of a tree are in that condi- 

 tion not alone because of the lack of exposure of the fruit itself but be- 

 cause the lea.ves in the vicinity of those apples are also under a handicap. 



Curculio Appears on Time 



In the spring of 1935 W- D- Wliitcomb of the Walt ham Field Station 

 reported a much larger than usual percentage of the curculio beetles in the 

 trees at blossoming time. Something like 30/" of the total beetle population 

 was at that time subject to control by the Calyx Spray. This season the num- 

 ber of beetles emerging at blossoming time was still in excess of normal al- 

 though not as great as in 1935- T-^c Calyx Spray application was, however, 



