4 



Gas Storage Experiinent rjnder Vvay 



One of the small cold storage rooms at the State College 

 has been made gas tight, 191 bushels of apples have been jrat in 

 and the room sealed ap October 11. The CO2 content is increasing 

 and the oxygen decreasing as might be expected. The temperature 

 is being held around ^0° F. The desired gas mixture of 2% oxygon^ 

 5;; carbon dioxide^ and 93a nitrogen should be reached in due time. 



J. K. Shaw 



Retarding the Ripening of Strawberries 



According to a recent Michigan publication the following 

 factors aided in retarding the season oi' maturity of the Diinlop 

 strawberry: (l) A north slope retarded fruit maturity nine days 

 as compared with a south slope of the same soil type. (2) A clay 

 loam soil caused a four day retardation over sandy loam on a north 

 slope. (s) Delay in removing the mulch had little effect on the 

 date of first picking but retarded the end of the picking season 

 four to five days. (.4) As compared with no mulch, the fact that 

 a bed had been winter mulched retarded the date of first picking 

 3 to -4 days. The dates of largest pickings and the dates of the 

 last pickings were retarded from 7 to 10 days. .Moreover, the use 

 of winter mulch increased the total yield by about 50)1 as compared 

 with the plots that received no winter mulch. (With the straw- 

 berry mulching season at hand, this last stateinent deserves care- 

 ful attention) 



A. P. Fi'ench 



Western Growers Practice Hand Pollination 



An indication oi the grov/th of hand pollination in the 

 State of Washington is provided in a statement by a Wenatchee 

 norticulturist in a recent issue of Better Fruit. A ^25,000. 

 industry was created last season by those who gather, sell, and 

 apply with camel's hair brushes, the apple pollen. Thousands of 

 acres are now being pollinated in. that way. The writer predicts 

 that the practice is barely in its infancy. He believes it pos- 

 sible to control the size of the crop in many orchards by this 

 method, eliminating the necessity of thinning entirely. 



Skin Lotion for Cherries 



In a recent issue of The Furrov/ we read, "Cracking of 

 sweet cherries, because of rains at ripening time, often causes 

 losses of from twenty to eighty percent of the crop. Experiments 

 are being made with cdcium. sprays to prevent such losses, for 

 calcium is capable of reducing the permeability of plant cells 

 to water. Removal of the calcium residue before packing the fruit 

 is a problem as yet misolved. 



WANTED — Pomological Puzzles 



Dui'ing the past few weeks our appetj.te for baffling prob- 

 lems has been whetted by the solution of a cover crop puzzle in 



