FRUIT NOTES - July, 1940 



W. H. Thies 

 Extension Horticulturist 



A Succe ssful Series of Twilight L'eetings . 



Slightly more than 1500 fruit growers have attended the 51 twilight or- 

 chard ffioetings held in Liassachusetts during the past three months. This moans 

 3J1 average attendance of almost exactly 30. These meetings v/erc distributed as 

 follows: Berkshire County, 1^ Franklin and Plymouth, 2 eachj Norfolk and Hamp- 

 shire, 3 each} Bristol, 65 Essex, 8; iiiiddlesex, lOj and tJorcester, 15. F^om the 

 standpoint of grov;ers in attendance, Essex County with an average of 55, and Wor- 

 cester County with 33, top the list. It has been the v/riter's privilege to at- 

 tend 25 of the 51 meetings. Sustained interest from April to July indicates the 

 worthwhileness of this sort of get-together. Vi/'e are v/ondering which individual 

 grov/er has the greatest number of meetings to his credit, and venture the guess 

 that some have attended at least 10 meetings. 



Protecting P eaches Against X-Disease« 



If you have a peach orchard or are thinking of starting one, you vdll 

 vra.nt to keep it free of X-Disease. The source of this trouble is the v/ild choke- 

 cherry. Therefore, elirrdnate all chokecherries to a distance of 200 feet from the 

 orchard. This can best be done by spraying the cherries v/ith a proprietary weed 

 killer consisting of sodium chlorate and a deflagration agent (a chemical to re- 

 duce the fire hazard) at the rate of 3/4 pound per gallon of water. You don't 

 need high pressure, but cover the leaves thoroughly- Spraying can bo done any 

 time the cherries arc in full loaf. How is a good time. Romcmbcr that a weed 

 killer kills all green vegetation with vdiich it comes in contact. The leaves of 

 sprayed cherries will die in a fev; days, but don't mov/ or cut them dovm till late 

 fall or early spring. This gives the poison time to get to the roots and kill 

 the whole plant. 



Usually the chokecherry can be distinguished from, the black or rum cherry 

 by its much deeper and sharper serrations along the edge of the leaves. Lock 

 sha rply for sharp serrations. If 3''ou are in doubt as to v;hlch kind of cherry it 

 is, better spray it anyway. The spraying is good insurance. If, after four or 

 five days, the leaves haven't all died, or if after ten days or two weeks nov»- 

 leaves appear on what looked like dead shoots, the tree v/as undoubtedly a black 

 cherry. Chokecherries seldom recover from the sprays black cherries often do, un- 

 less very thoroughly covered. j o Railev 



"THE BEST SALSSISN FOR MORE APPLES ARE GOOD APPLES ." (Quotation from 

 Farm and Hoae Week talk of G. L. Mooro) 



Issued by the Extension Service, '.Yillard A. Munson, Director, in fur- 

 therance of Acts of Hay 8 and June 30, 1914. Fassachusetts State College, United 

 States Dgpartment of Agriculture, and County Kxtension Services cooperating. 



