-5- 



5. Boxes with wood-frame ends and side rails stood up best under 

 normal stacking in storage. Diagonal pieces placed inside the box helped 

 a great deal. Side rails of fiber bulged more than wooden ones, 



6. Where wood is used for support, vertical pieces should be cut 

 full length or there will be compression and slumping as in other boxes, 



7. None of the boxos was as satisfactory as a wooden box for storage 

 purposes, although almost any of them could be used with careful provision to 

 offset their weaknesses. They cannot be handled like wooden boxes. No all- 

 cardboard or all-fiber box should be stacked more than three or four high 

 without a staging of some kind to carry an increased load. They must be ven- 

 tilated if they are to stay in storage long. Ventilation is probably some- 

 what less important at 32° F. than at a higher temperature. Also, boxes are 

 likely to soften and settle faster at higher temperatures. (Report prepared 

 June 3, 1943). 



— L. Southvz-ick and A. C. Ballard 



DO BEES INJURE RIPE FRUIT? 



A recent letter vras received relating to the injury of fruit by bees. 

 The inquirer stated that last year she lost bushels of grapes due to the bees 

 piercing the fruits and then leaving them to decay. 



In 1886, McLain demonstrated that honeybees are incapable of injuring 

 sound fruit. He placed a colony of starving bees in a cheesecloth tent. In 

 the same tent a considerable quantity of ripe grapes were placed. The bees 

 starved to death and did not injure the grapes, thus demonstrating their lack 

 of ability to puncture the fruits from v;hich they could have obtained food. 



Honeybees will visit grapes, plums, and other sweet fruits after these 

 have been injured by some other agency. Birds and yellow jackets are capable 

 of injuring fruit. Honeybees cannot penetrate the skin of a grape or a plum 

 due to the structure of their mandibjes, 



— F. R. Shaw 



C0I.1FETITI0N BETYJEEN GR.'^SS MP FRUIT TREES 



It is rare for the trees in a newly plamted orchard in grass sod to 

 make good growth. They cannot compete successfully with grass for moisture 

 and fertilizer nutrients. Frodd R. Trark of Sterling has a young orchard of 

 one-year whips, mostly Mcintosh set in the spring of 1942, tho.t has made good 

 grow-th in grass scd. The increase in trunk diameter during tlie fruit season 

 was from to 14 millimeters, the majority inci easing 6 to 11 millimeters. 

 Most newly planted trees increase about 3 tc G T.ill .mBters . The soil in the 

 Trask orchard is rather moist for fruit troos. It v;;.:: fonnei-xy used for 

 truck crops and therefore must have been \iq11 fertilized. 11 yq^mg trees 

 are to compete with grass, there must be an ample supply of watfer and plant 

 nutrients. Under most conditions, young trees should be cultivated or 

 mulched. — J. K. Shav; 



