MASSACHUSETTS STATE COLLE'xE 

 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AORI CULTURE 

 AND COUNTY EXTENSION SERVICES IN AGRICULTURE AND 

 HOME ECONOMICS COOPERATINi 



i'-j- 



FRUIT NOTES - January, 1937 



W. H. Thies 

 Extension Horticulturist 



Ra infall an d the Fruit Cr op 



It takes about 11 acre inches of water to develop a 

 300 bu. per acre crop of apples. It v/o'^ld seem therefore that 

 the normal annual rainfall in Amherst (^3.^9 inches) ought never 

 to result in a shortage of water in the soil. But it isn't so 

 much a matter of hov; much rain falls during the year as it is the 

 distribution from month to month. Penetration and retention by 

 the soil are also important factors. The season of 1936 seemed 

 dryer than 1935- Ye'c tlie rainfall records of C. 1. G-unness show 

 a total of k&''.2k inches in I936 and only 3i|.0S inches in 1935- 

 Here is a possible explanation for the greater water deficiency 

 in 1936. We began the season with an inherited deficit of 9.41 

 inches from the season of 1935- In other words, the soil v;as 

 actually dryer than normal. Then we received during Jan., Feb., 

 and Mar,, I936 a total of I6.I5 inches, much of which ra.n off 

 because the' ground was frozen, April, 193^ ^'^''^s only slightly 

 above normal in rainfall while May, June and July (months of active 

 growth and heavy water demand) brought a rainfall which was actual- 

 ly 5 inches less than normal. Consequently, trees planted on soils 

 of poor water holding capacity were unable to get enough water 

 during the summer of I936. There was plenty of evidence of this 

 fact in the form of internal cork in Mcintosh and Cortland, Ex- 

 cessive Baldwin Spot in some orcliards may also be attributed to 

 a fluctuation in the water supply. 



At the Rochester Meetings 



I had the plea.sure of attending the meetings of the New 

 York State Horticultural Society at Rochester to tell them some- 

 thing of the Massachusetts plan of helping the grov;er to get tree 

 true to name. There were some 200 fruit growers present and I 

 asked if any had planted commercial orchards and found all their 

 trees true to name. There was no response, I then asked how 

 many had received trees not true to name. Quite a sprinkling of 

 hands appeared over the audience. Apparently our Nevr York breth- 

 ren have not been very much more fortunate than ourselves. It is 

 interesting to note they think Baldwin is out in central and west- 

 ern New York, also th; t some think Cortland is the best bet for 

 8 variety to replace it, (J. K, Shaw), 



Do Beehives Har bo r Fire Blight? 



Fire blight cannot over-winter in a beehive. This much 

 discussed point seems to have been settled by extensive experi- 

 ments recently reported from New York. The longest period over 

 which the organism was able to survive in a hive was I3 days. 

 Usually no living bacteria were found after three days. Honey 



s 



