FRUIT NOTES - MAY, I93S 



W. H. Thlec 

 Extension Horticulturist 



T w i 1 1 r^ht Me e t i n r- c 





During the month of May, nineteen twilight meetings 



of fruit ■csrovjerc were held in the orchards of Liassachusetts. 

 Twelve of these meetings, attended by the writer, tu-ought out 

 h^E growers. Following is the distribution of meetings "by 

 counties: Worcester (5), Essex (^), Middlesex (3), Hampden (3), 

 Hampshire (2), Frank:iin (l), and Bristol (l). The timeliness 

 and inf ormalitj'' of these get-togethers help to account for the 

 good attendance and the coiitinu.ed interest. On several occasions 

 we have noted Indlvirlual growers w'lo have travelled at least 25 

 miles to attend. Fifteen simila.r meetings are scheduled in 

 different parts of the state during June. 



A New Slant on the Suh.l ect o f Orga -^ i c Matter 



From the peu of an old fritjnd, J. 3. Abbott, formerly 

 Extension Agronomist at the State College, come the-ce pointed 

 statemento about organic matter In the soil. 



"If all the accumulated soil-management wisdom o-f a 

 hundred generations of master farmers were boiled down to just 

 three sentences, one of those sentences certainly would be 'Prc- 

 vi'"o for regular and frequent rerlenlshment of the supply of 

 or,-:inic matter in the soil.' Organic matter in the form of humiUs 

 adds to the water holaing capacity of the soil, thus reducing 

 the danger of injury by drought; it serves as a storehouse of 

 readily available plant food, especially nitrogen, and yields 

 it up to the tree with a season-long regularity never achieved 

 by fertilizer alone; it improves the tilth of the soil, mak: ng 

 heavy soils more friable and giving sandy soils more body; it 

 increases the permeability of thf: soil so that rainfall is more 

 quickly absorbed, and run-off and erosion. correspondingly de- 

 creased; it serves as a culture medium for soil bacteria which 

 render plant foods available. In short, humus is so necessary 

 a part of the soil that no soil is fit for agricultural use un- 

 less it contains a j'^ood supply. 



"The purely physical values of humus presumably would 

 be realized from a st.-^tic, permanent supply — if there wore 

 such a. thing. There isn't. The chemical and biological va.lues 

 are realized only at the expense of oxidizing or "burning-out" 

 humus. Hence the necessity for regular replenishment of the 

 supply, just as the woodpile, coalbin or oil tank require re- 

 plenishm.ent . That replenishment requires far more organic m.atter 

 than is generally understood. The New York Stations have found, 

 for example, that few if any cover crops produced after June 1^ 

 add to an orchard soil as much hum.us as is burned out by clean 



Icsued by the Extension Service, V/lllnrd A. Munson, director, 

 in furtherance of Acts of May g and June 30, 191^1. Massachusetts 

 St = 'te College, United States Department of Agriculture, and County 

 Exot.nision Services cooperating. 



