2.6/0 of the growers. According to the grov/ers' estimate, 20.5/a of the apples in 

 Connecticut grade less than U. S. Ho. 1. 



G ardner Talks on Preventing Llclntosh Drop« 



F. E. Gardner of the U. S. D. A. Horticultural Station at Beltsville, 

 Jsryland, speaking at one of the Farm and Home Week fruit meetings offered these 

 timely suggestions to grov/ers applying the promising new hormones, napthalene 

 acetic acid and napthalene acetamide, for preventing Mcintosh drop. 1. Dolay 

 thG application as late as possible, beginning about the time tho apples bogin to 

 drop. 2. Spray Vidth utmost thoroughness in order that the stons may bo covered. 

 3. Don't lot the fruit hang on the tree too long because that vd.ll tend to impair 

 the storage quality. 



Several commercial concerns are offering these hormones for sale at the 

 present time. Details raay be obtained from your county agricultural agent or 

 from the State College. The price of these materials is still rather high since 

 they are being synthesized for plant use only. Having no other use at the pres- 

 ent timo, the cost of manufacture is necossarily high. 



The abovG mentioned plant hormones v/cre first used in the rooting of 

 cuttings v/horc it was found the.t thoy tended not only to encourage rooting but 

 to prevent the dropping of tho leaf petioles from tho stem. Experiments showed 

 that these materials were equally effective in preventing the abscission of 

 fruits. Five to ten parts per million are effective in preventing fruit drop. 

 If the temperature at the time of application is high, there is an effect in 24 

 hours. If cool, the effect is first noticed in two or three days. On some var- 

 ieties an application is effective for two or three weeks, although on Mcintosh 

 the time is only 8 or 10 days and the effect terminates very abruptly. It is re- 

 conraondod that the first half bushel or bushel bo allov/od to fall before applying. 

 The first application can be followed by a second, if noodod, in about 7 days. 

 Fruit has boon kept on the tree until after Christmas in experimental tests. 



Apples, whose stems were sprayed by means of an atomizer, leaving the 

 rest of the tree unsprayed, stayed on almost as well as v;hen the v;hole tree v/e.s 

 sprayed. In applying this materie.l v;ith a pov/er sprayer the application must be 

 sufficiently thorough to insure complete coverage of the stems. More effective 

 spraying can be done from inside the tree since meaiy of the apples are so com- 

 pletely protected by leaves as to make thorough spraying from tho outside quite 

 impossible. 



The only effect on the hormone treated fruit is e-n improved color. Im- 

 provement in color is apparently duo noo to the hormones directly, but to tho 

 fact that tho fruit hangs on tho tree longer. Treated apples have shovm less 

 scald than 'chose picked earlier. But if they are allowed to hang on the tree 

 too long they don't keep as v;ell. 



The absolute safety of the material from the standpoint of huxian con- 

 suj-jption is em.phasi2ed by this authoritative statement. "If an average sized 

 man v/ere able to eat 40,000 bushels of 8.pples at one sitting, the ai'nount of the 

 hormone consumed might make him quite sick." 



