-o- 



v/hlch slgniflei3 blanching; due to the exclucl'^n of cunlight) is an 

 important factor in the production of roots from nteni tissues of 

 the apple. The method is as follows: A piece of black insulating 

 tape, wrapped ^- or 5 times around a young shoot in early spring 

 ic allowed to remain until fall. Mcintosh shoots, thus treated, 

 resulted in a high percentage of rooting, but only when leaf bud 

 scars were covered, since the new roots develop from the bud axils. 

 Marked differences were noted in the response of other varieties. 

 Attempts to apply the etiolation procedure to pears met with in- 

 different succeus, and v/ith sweet and sour cherries, no success 

 Pt all. 



S trawberr y Plants. In experiments at the R. I. E?:p. Sta.. reported 

 by E. P. C'".:''!.-, : ;_')her, spaced strawberry plants of the Howard I7 

 and Dorset c Vc^tletieL; developed a much larger number of leaves 

 than did those in matted rows. V/it>^ mother plants placed 2H- inch- 

 es apart in the .-"ovi. a m.ar':ed increase in number of leaves on the 

 young runner plaaitc v/o.s noted with each increase in runner spacinf^ 

 r)(;termina..tions oi leaf area per -^lanu ijhowed that the m.ore v^ve'i'i^ 

 per mother plant, the srjiadler the leaf area, per plant. .?ne ma'Jtod 

 rovr plants had not only the smalles'C number of letivea bv;: the 

 sn.aliest average leaf size and the smallest leaf area per plant. 

 The development of la.rge, 'vell-developed plants, capable of large 

 yields, is favored by adequate spacing. 



Leaf Activity. Recent work at the N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta. shown that 

 photrsynthetic ;'.ctivity in a.pple leaves is ma.rkedly reduced when 

 the temperature is high. This suggests tha.t the most favorable 

 conditions for starch a^ccumulation in the tree occur during the 

 latter part of the se;-ison instea.d of midsummer. And thj-t, in turn 

 emphasizes the need for maintaining healthy leaves through Auguot 

 and September, a^t least. Leaf hopper, red mite, spray injury, fia<i 

 scab a.re a few of the handicaps v/hich the tree encounters in the 

 process of manufacturing and storing starch to supply the needs 

 of the tree the following spring. 



Soil Moisture . Fruit circumference mea.surements and soil moisture 

 readings in a Hudson Valley I.iclntoch orchard have recently been 

 reported by D. 3oynton. Lac'^. of rainfall for as brief a. period 

 as 2 weeks in a season of normal precipitation caused a reduction 

 in fruit growth on trees grooving in a gravelly loa,m soil which 

 permits rooting to a. depth of only 2 feet. There ync a drop in 

 soil moisture from, about y^f: of available capacity to the wilting 

 percentage in I3 days. On an adjacent plot ^'here the soil ap- 

 proached h feet in denth, the wilting percentage was never reached 

 and there w,as no slowing dovrn in fruit development. 



5\;'e e t Cherries . In a study of '+15 varieties of sv.reet cherries, 

 M. B. Crane rnc. A. G-. Brown find 11 incnmpat:'ble groups, v/itliin 

 v.'hich all self and cross-pollina.tion failed. Self-incom.pati- 

 bility \^•^s found to be the rule and cross-incomp'^tibility rather 

 frequent, and always expressed reciprocally. Where vr-'.rieties are 

 incompatible, it means that the growth of the pollen tube dov/n 

 the style ic arrested, thus preventing fertilization of the seed 

 embryo, or ovule. 



