FRUIT NOTjJS - November, 1939 



W. H. Thies 

 3xtension Horticulturist 



The Feeding Value of Apples 



One ton of dried apple pomace has about the same value in milk production 

 as three tons of corn silage, according to the Virginia Agricultural ilxperiment 

 Station. C V/. Holdaway says in October "Virginia Fruit," "Apples have more mois- 

 ture than corn silage, and 10 J pounds of apples will average about 11.83 pounds of 

 digestible material while 100 pounds of corn silage (well matured corn) averages 

 18.7 pounds of digestible material. Therefore, apples of this moisture content 

 (82/o) would have 64;i of the value of well matured corn silage for feeding purposes." 

 These cash values given by the Virginia Station are of interest; Vnun corn is 

 worth 60 cents por bushel and corn silage $3.98 per ton, apples (64/o of value of 

 corn silage) are worth $2.55 per ton. On the same basis when corn is v^orth $1.00 

 per bushel apples are considered worth $4.25 per ton. 



Hills (Vermont, 1901) considered that apples were worth about 40/o as 

 much as corn silage when fed to dairy cows. Tids rather low estimate may be due 

 to the fact that applos contain a very low percentage of protein and in this ex- 

 periment they were the sole roughage used, replacing corn silage pound for yound. 

 It is possible that the solids that go into the cider have a higher value than the 

 pomace solids. Investigators at the Washington Station fed 1.5 pounds per head 

 daily to fattening lujnbs along v/ith alfalfa hay and corn grain'. Thay secured as 

 good results as when the same weights of corn silage wer* fed in place of the 

 apples. Wlien a larger allowance of apples was fed results were less satisfactory. 



Lignt Soils Show More Arsenic Toxicity • 



Heavy applications of lead arsenate in some orchards in the Northwest 

 have brought about such an accumulation of arsenic that the grovrth of cover crops 

 is affected. But this condition is more likely to occur on light soils than on 

 heavy soils. Vi;"riting in the Journal of Agricultural Research, a. 3. Grafts says, 

 "Heavy soils 'fix* large amounts of arsenic, rendering it unavailable to plants. 

 Arsenic toxicity is high in light soils, especially in those low in colloids." 

 And this suggests one more good reason for locating orchards on good soils, not 

 necessarily the heaviest soils, but those v;hich contain a fair amount of clay L.nd 

 silt. These soil constituents are far more valuable than most of us realize. 



A New Slant on Old Varieties 



About 70 years ago the American Poinological Society approved nearly 300 

 apple vc-rieties as suitable for planting. Imi^gine a commercial upple orchard with 



even one-tenth that ra-ny varieties today. Of the many varieties described and 

 exhibited, at least locally, more than nine-tenths h^ve disappeared. Some of 

 them got no farther on the road of fame than the back yard of the originator. Time 

 has done u thorough job of weeding out until today we seldom plant more than half 

 a dozen varieties and we see on the markets in commercial quantities not more than 

 a dozen. Yet thero are a number of deserving old-tirr.ers which ought not to go the 

 way of the heath hen and the dodo bird. 



Issued by the iiixtension Service, Willard A. Munson, Direotor, in furtherance 

 of Acts of Kay b and June 3o , 1914. Massachusetts State College, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, and County jixtension Services cooperc^ting. 



