-4- 



and total nitrogen. Annual cover-cropping Vi/as somewhat less depleting than 

 clean cultivation without cover crops, but the following figures reveal the 

 inadequacy of both of these systems from the long-time land-use point of view. 



^anic Matter Total Nitrogen 

 5s. per acre) (lbs. per acre) 



31,432 2,730 



'l\ 



Sod orchards 



Annual cover-cropped orchards 



Clean cultivated orchards 



21,599 

 18,840 



2,108 

 1,847 



L. Southwick 



Thinning Peachss 



An important aspect of proper thinning was brought out recently by M. J. 

 Dorsey of Illinois when he gave the numbers of peaches per 50-pound bushel as 

 follows. 2 inch - 243, 2^ inch - 220, 2^ inch - 125, 3 inch - 96. 



Thus it takes only a few more than one-third as many 3-inch peaches to 

 fill a bushel basket as it does of the 2-inch size. In other words, for each 

 bushel of 2-inch peaches the tree must develop about three times as many pits. 

 This means a severe drain on the resources of the tree tmd a much poorer quality 



PJ^od^c*' L. Southwick 



"Handling antl Shipping Strawberrios Wi thout Refrigeratio n" 



This is the namb of a new Circular No. 515 by Fisher and Lutz of the 

 U.S.D.A. Picking strawterries early in the morning whiles tha fruit and air tem- 

 peratures are relatively cool result in better shipping quality than picking 

 later in the day. Care in picking is an extremely important factor in the carry- 

 ing quality of strawberries. It is advisable to pick cli^an at least every other 

 day, uspeoially during warm weather. There is little difference in shipping 

 quality between berries covered with cellophane and those not so covered. Decay 

 of strawberries is closely associated vi/ith temperature, especially above 40 • 

 Cultural practices which reduce the number of small berries is an important factor 

 in markoting bocause it helps to eliminate the necessity of repacking. 



Observations on Pecich Growing in Western New York 



In ct recent bulletin (No. 710) by H. F. de Graff concerning che growing 

 of peaches in Western New York, this statement is made, "Within areas that are 

 climatically adapted to peaches, no other factor is so important to the success 

 of the enterprise as a suitable soil." On one of the soil types studied (Hilton) 

 it was found that on the average, at 7 years of age only 2/3 of the trees re- 

 mained, whereas this same proportion still remained on another soil type (Alton) 

 at 20 years of age. The average productive life of peach orchards on Hilton soil 

 is about 15 years. During this period an acre of such orchards produced approx- 

 imately 400 bushels of fruit. During the same period an average acre on Alton 

 soil produced approximately 1600 bushels of fruit and was productive for several 

 additional years. 



The location of a peach orchard from the standpoint of frost susceptibil- 

 ity has long been considered important. Too little thought has bean given in tho 

 past zo the adaptability of the soil itswlf . Tho above observations emphasize 

 tne need for selecting not only a good sito but a good soil if we -re interested 

 in large yields and a reasonably long period of productivity. 



