I ■ 



have been obs-jrv.v^d. Yob obviously mulchins clo?3 not add water to 

 the soil c.nd v/.'-ere rooting is very shallov: simply delays the be- 

 ginning of \vater stress. Tliis d^alay is very desirable and may be 

 the means of carrying 'crees through the drouth if not too pro- 

 longed and thxe trees not too shallov; rooted." 



A 7-Point Program 



G. A. Drevr of Westiord offers these pointed susrestions 

 in a recent issue of the Rural How Yorker: "Vniilo the cash re- 

 turns from this last season's crop of fruit h.ave been rather 

 disappointing, most of us fruit grov:ers still have faith in our 

 business and believe it to be fundamentally soiuod. As to how best 

 to meet the changing conditions and improve our positions, I 

 believe the follo\7ing points should receive serious attention: 

 (l) Cut do'vn or destroy our m.arginal orchards. (2) Eliminate 

 varieties that are no longer prof it?-.ble. (3) Try to grov.' a large 

 percentage of better colored, attractive fruit. (4) Eliminate 

 culls from the fresh fruit market in open competition with our 

 better grades. (5) Pack, handle and supervise the marketing of 

 our fruit in order that it may roach the consumer in better con- 

 dition. (6) vrnenever possible diversify more in several varie- 

 ties covering a longer seaso:i or in different crops of fruit and 

 not have all one's eg^.s in one basket. (7) Give our IJev/ York and 

 Hew England Apple Institute better support in advertising our 

 proauct. Tnis is my seven point program for recovery, which I 

 respectfully submit." 



Small Fruit hotes from Hew Jersey 



J. H. Clark of He-.; Jersey, writing in the State I-orticul- 

 tural Society Hews, says, ''.\n increosing niimber of Hew Jersey 

 strawberry growers are using mulch e£-.ch year. The manager of 

 one of the important produce auctions in the stc te recently made 

 the statem.ent that the strawberry growers who go not mulch are 

 losing m.oney by not doing so." Concerning raspberry varieties, 

 he says, "The Latham, raspberry although quite susceptible to 

 mosaic, anthracnose, spur taligh_t, etc., is the r,iost profitable 

 commercial variety for iiew Jersey. Varieties more resisornt to 

 disease end of better quality are badly needed." 



Internal Cork and 'Bor on 



In the spring of 1937, boron applications were made to 

 certain Mcintosh and Cortland trees in an orchard at Massachusetts 

 State College which produced considerable corky fruit in 1936. 

 ethers were left as ch.ecks. Borax was applied both in direct soil 

 dressings and injections and in spra^'-s at the rcte of less than 

 1/2 pound per tree in each case. A check on the 1939 crops re- 

 vealed the presence again of considerable internal cork in both 

 varieties wiien untreated but no evidence of cork in. the fruit from 

 tJie trees which had had borax applications in 1937. This evidence 

 is in line w'ith other data and further substantiates that the cor- 

 rective influence of a single boron addition may continue for 

 several years in some soils. It likewise brings out the important 

 fact that in the use of boron, a little goes a long way. 



L. Southwick 



