-^^ 



Overco m ing a Toxic Condition in th e 5oii . After several years of heavy appli- 

 cations of lead arsenate in V/ashington orchards, the soil is shovdng distinct 

 harmful ef facts of an accumulation of arsenic. Experiments are under vvx.y to 

 test the effect of different materials, including barnyard manure and various 

 cheniicals as a means of correcting this condition. Sovoral of those materials 

 have releashid and caused to leach out relatively large quantitios of soluble 

 arsenic but they have not removed enough of this material to benofit materially 

 the growth of cover crops such as barley and ailfalfa. Heavy applications of 

 ferrous sulfate and of forric sulfate, however, have proved very effective in 

 reducing the concentration of readily soluble arsenic in arsenic toxic soils 

 and have resulted in a greatly improved cover crop. 



jjffect of Sulfur Fungi cides on Apple Leaves. Cornell Memoir 222 reports an 

 interesting experiment in which apple leaves were sprayed with various fungi- 

 cides and the effect on photosynthesis then deterndnyd. Hero is one interest- 

 ing item found in the bulletin summary, "The principal reduction in the ap- 

 parent photosynthesis of apple leavec due to lir.ie-sulfur solution, vdth and 

 witiiout arsenate of lead, occurred when the lower surfaces of the loaves v;ere 

 sprayed. The reduction from spraying the lower surfaces only, or from spray- 

 ing both surfaces, was approximately 24 par cent, and the reduction from 

 spraying the upper surfaces only v/aa about 5 per cent." This is to be expected 

 since the storaates or pores of an apple leaf are found only on the und^r side. 



Mcintosh Color Requirements are Too Low . The color requirements for I'JcIntosh 

 are too low, according to Cornell Memoir 220, "Joint Correlation Applied to 

 the ^Juality and Price of Mcintosh Apples," published in March, 1939. After a 

 detailed study of the various factors v/hich surround a Mcintosh apple and of 

 their relation to market price, the author, J. R. Raeburn, says, "The relation- 

 ships of color to price indicated th^t apples with less than 67/o of their skin 

 'a good red charsiCteristic of the variety' should not be pormitted in the 

 'United States Fancy' gro^de, and those with less than 33/, should not be per- 

 mitted in the 'United St;..tes No. 1' grade." 



A Practical Method of Roguaing a Red Raspberry Planting . L. K. Jones in 

 Washington Extension Circular No. 22, "Red Raspberry Mosaic," makes these 

 suggestions about getting rid of infected raspberry plants; "WTien mosaic 

 infected plants are dug the following precautions should bo observed. The 

 diseased plant and one healthy plant on each side should be dug as soon as 

 noted in spring or early summer. The plants should be carried out of the 

 planting as soon as they are dug. Following the digging, careful inspections 

 of the planting should be made every two Weeks. Any suckers coming from roots 

 of plants that have been dug should be destroyed since the disease will live 

 in the roots and come up in any nev/ grovrth that develops. Mosaic-free plants 

 may be used to fill in the vacant areas in the rows one or two ye..rs after the 

 diseased plants have been romoved, providing all sucker growth from the old 

 roots has been destroyed." 



Red Sports -.re Often Picked Too E..rly . V^. E. Piper reports a well knovm Bos- 

 tun dealer as saying "A grean Red Grav is werse than a gro^n Green ene." This 

 seems to suggest a tendency among growers to pick red sp^-rts teo early. If 

 we harvest a Red Grav, Richared or other red sport as auon &s it takes on 

 a red colur, we are sure to have a less edible apple than the color weuld 

 indicate and about the only thing v/orth less than an immature, rubbery -.pple 

 is two such apples. 



