-2- 



D routh (?) and Cork in Apple s 



At Cornell Univorsit/, A. J. Keinicke and his associates 

 have produced cork in apples experimentally. A normal Northern 

 Spy tree that had alvmys borne perfect apples was subjected to 

 excessive irrigation from August 25 to November 14 in 1938, and 

 April 15 to August 11 in 1939. By mid-June, 1939, the yoimfj 

 fruits shovifed early symptoms of surface cork as well as internal 

 cork. Over one-half of the branches bore corky fruit. Much of 

 the foliage also was abnormal. Presiimably, there were plenty of 

 nutrients in the soil, but, with the oxygon content abnormally low 

 so that the tree roots could not function properly, the nutrients 

 were unavailable. Other investigations have shov/n that there is 

 less ash (minerals taken up by the plant) in plants grovm under 

 low levels of oxygen in the rooting medium. In fact, lack of 

 aeration in a soil may interfere more v/ith the absorption of po- 

 tassium and some other elements than it does with oiie absorption 

 of boron. Normally, cork is associated v/ith sandy or shallow 

 soils, especially in a dry year and when the nitrogen and calcium 

 level.s are relatively high. 



L. Southwick 

 The Soil Moisture Situation 



As this is being written, a total of 17 3/4 inches of 

 snow has been recorded this v/ints-r in Amlierst. Most of it has 

 melted gradually, and since the groi^nd v/as only slightly frozen 

 the penetration has been fairly good. Otherwise, we might begin 

 the 1941 season with a real moisture shortage in the soil, as 

 shovm by these figures. The latter part of the summer of 1940 

 was very dry with a total rainfall in August, September and Octo- 

 ber of 4' 13 inches. The normal rainfall for this period is 11.61 

 inches, the normal for September alone being 4-24 inches. On 

 November 1 the subsoil was unusually dry, as evidenced by excava- 

 tions in Amherst at that time. The month of November brought 

 6.31 inches of rain. If this had fallen on frozen ground and 

 found its v/ay into brooks and rivers, it is easy to see the be- 

 ginning of a real soil jnoisture shortage. 



A Tip from an Old Timer 



Grant Hitcliings, a pioneer fruit grower of Nev; York State, 

 makes this statement about planting a.n apple orchard, "Large sec- 

 tions of Hew York soils have been depleted of plant food. On soils 

 of this type it is much better to plant 40 x AO or even 50 x 50 

 feet and not intercrop ^f;ith regular farm crops, but on the con- 

 trary seed dovm and use whatever grows as a mulch to restore 

 humus to the soil, v/hich will build up fertility. Using fillers 

 and then cutting out, in the long run, does i.ot i-'ay." 



Here ' s an Idea 



This one has to do with the reason for suckers or v/ater 

 sprouts in a fruit tree. Only a small proportion of the potential 

 grov/ing points in a woody plant ever develop. Grov/th possibili- 

 ties are said to exist in the axil of every bud scale. These 

 "adventitious buds" lie dormant in the tissues indefinitely, 

 bursting into grov/th only \;hen normal growing points are des- 



