■5- 



Accordlng to Blake of Ne'" Jersey, permanent apple trees 

 '' T feet apprt i-rith a filler tree in the center of epch 

 :^ppe'^r6 to be p sound modern practice. This permits ap- 



per <Tcre. V/lth 



for 15 or 20 yeprs. 

 )r satisfactory 

 ;us .'^nd efficient 



Young apple trees ought to be groi"n in cultiv,qted Innd 

 nnd not in sod. Yet some gro'"ers st^rt trees in sod '"ith some 

 success provided the mice do not get nt the bnrk. Of course the 

 prescription for the mice is modern poisoning, but it is "'ise to 

 pllow no gr-^ss roots ivlthin p foot pnd ,'h half of the young tree. 

 Hoe, hoe, hoe, if you v'ould gro:,v young trees in sod, A fe^^^ of 

 our clonpl stock trees ^"ere tciralod, evidently pbout August. 



(J.K.Shp-) 



"Prpcticplly spenklng" spys J. R. Mrgness, Depprtraent 

 pom.ologist pnd author of the rpplo section in the 1937 Yearbook, 

 "the apple breeder '"orks for his descendants, not for his own 

 generation. " "The hope of obtaining better apples, " he declares, 

 "lies in extensive breeding programs of the present and the futura 

 The objectives are jncreased winter hardiness, especially in the 

 North; resistance to the major diseases of scab, blotch, bitter 

 rot, fire blight, and apple ced^r rust; resistance to spray in- 

 jury, late bloo;ning to et-cape spring fronts in some sections; a 

 combination of rich fla'"'ored fruit and deslr/'ble tree characters; 

 a greater range of fruits '-Yith color, quality, and ability to 

 keep well in storage; and varieties adapted to the far South, 

 "'here at present there are none sr^tisfactory . " 



In the Decfmber issue of Fruit Notes fiere wnx appear 

 a summary of the activities of the B'ederal Surplus Commodities 

 Corporation during the past fe^" ■'■'Boks. This agency, under the 

 supervision of Saxon D. Clark with head(4uarte:i.'fj at Concord, Mass., 

 has done a ve rj e'"facti^'e piece of work in pvii cliy sing New England 

 applecof U. S. UblliLy G-rade for welfpre purposes. 



Studies by El'. enwood aind G-ourley of apple tree root dis- 

 tribution and penetration in Ohio show no tendency toward shallow 

 rooting in mulc'ied orchards. They suggest the advisability of 

 widespread a jjpli cations of fertilizer because of a tendency of 

 roots to sprsad rapidly over the '"hole orchard area. In August 

 of the very n.i-y ye? r, 15 "50, moisture w-g found to be much higher 

 beneath a mulch than on.tside. Size of fruit ^"as also larger on 

 the mulched ai'ea,. 



A recent publication from the N, J. Dept . of Agriculture 

 contains some int.ei'-e sting informption about average yields of 

 apples in the different states. Yields vary in 19^^ from .1 hu. 

 per tree in Indiana, and Illinois to 6.9 bu. per tree in Washiington 

 Nev.f England shows an average of .9 bu. loer tree. Granting that 

 19^^- wo s an off year in some sections, the a.verage yield will 

 vary tremendously not only in different titates but in di^^ferent 

 orchards in the sane state. A good yield of fruit year in and 



