Do You Know 



That Baldwin apples were selling in Boston seventy years ago at five 

 cents apiece? In the first issue of the Boston Globe published March 4, 1872 

 there appeared this item: "Good Baldwin apples are selling in England today 

 for a penny apiece; here they are five cents, and from that upv/ards." 



That New England agriculture provides employnnent for over 600,000 men, 

 women, and children on about 135,000 farms? In 1940 the cash returns to our 

 farmers amounted to more than $.263,000,000. 



That more than 1000 tons of lead arsenate were sold in Massachusetts 

 for incecticidal use in 1D41? If this material could be adiTiinistered individ- 

 ually to the various chewing insects in minimum lethal doses, less than 1% 

 of the amo-ont now used would probably be ample for the protection of our agri- 

 cultural crops. 



That lists of reliable dealers in various kinds of fruit plants are 

 available from your county agricultural agent or from the State College? In 

 establishing a ne^v stra\;berry planting there are some advantages in getting 

 northern grov.Ti plants, while the advantages of disease-free raspberry plants 

 are v;ell ^recognized. 



That a poorly sprayed apple tree tends to grov; taller than a well 

 sprayed tree? The downvirard pull on the branches of the latter nay be ten 

 times as much as on the former, because fewer apples drop from the well 

 sprayed tree before harvest time, and their average size is larger. A branch 

 which bears a few undersized culls is hampered but little in its reach for 

 the sky, while trie heavily laden branch is bent dov.niward to form a graceful arc, 



That the term "DK" is an abbreviation for dinitroorthocyclohexylphe- 

 nol? No wonder the stuff has punch enough to knock out rosy aphis. Imagine 

 a football player v>;ith a name like thati 



That apple roots are killed if the temperature of the soil in late win- 

 ter drops to 10" ^^ ? In summer, the critical temperature is 26" F. This sit- 

 uation emphasizes t!ie insulating effect of a layer of soil. Even though the 

 air temperature drops to -10° F. for a day or tv;o in winter the soil a few 

 inches below the surface may remain unfrozen. Under a heavy mulch, the tem- 

 perature change is almost unbelievably slow. 



That poultry manure contains approximately the following amounts of 

 plant nutrients per ton: nitrogen, 20 lbs.; phosphoric acid, 16 lbs.; potash, 

 S lbs.? Stable manure contains more potash but less of the other two ingre- 

 dients, or about 10 lbs., 5 lbs., and 10 lbs., respectively. 



That the average yield of strav;berries in all producing areas in the 

 U. S. over a 10-year period is only 1532 quarts per acre? YJithan occasional 

 Massachusetts grower producing more than 10,000 quarts per acre, it is apparent 

 that the picking in somebody's strawberry patch must be "pretty thin." 



Txhat the tonnage of dried fruits in California amounts to as i.iuch as 

 half a million tons annually? The 1939 figures reported in California Circ. 

 No. 350 are as follows: apricots, 40,000 tons; figs, 25,000 tons; clingstone 

 peaches, 4,000 tons, freestone peaches, 24,000 tons; pears, 7,700 t'-'ns; 

 prunes, 134,000 tons; raisins, 239,500 tons. 



