-5- 



S EEU AI ID l EAPJ ) IN ilAIIE 



IIavin£; boen loaned to the Stato of Main'j for tvra wooks (Jan. 9-2^), 

 the v;ritor tak^s this opportunity to r eport a few of his observations. The 

 trip involved seven v/ell attond^^d fruit meetings, throe county agent confer- 

 ences and numerous visits vdth individual growers. Nev/spaper accounts of 

 heavy snowstorms this winter are not exaggerated. Snow plows, in some tov.'ns, 

 have been taxed to the limit and many of them are laid up for repairs. Some 

 telephone lines are dov/n, and certain orchards are so deeply buried that 

 mid-winter mouse control measures are out of the question. 



Hardy Stocks. Cold winters have caused so much damage to apple trees 

 in i.Iaine in yoars"pa'st that there is real interest in establishing orchards on 

 one of the hardy stocks. The severity of Maine winters is shown by the fact 

 that Baldwin trees on ordinary seedling stock will survive only tv:o or three 

 years in the vicinity of Orono, But if grafted in the branches of a Hibernal 

 or Virginia Crab tree even the tender Baldwin will survive for many years. 

 The method of establishing an orchard on a hardy stock is briefly thisj An 

 ordinary seedling -v/hip is budded to Virginia Crab or Hibernal in the nursery 

 and after growing a year or t\io is transplanted to the orchard and developed 

 as a leader tj'pe tree. T/7ide angled branches develop naturally on these var- 

 ieties. V/hen the framev/ork is v/ell established the brandies and "leader" are 

 either budded or vihip grafted to the desired variety, the buds or scions being 

 placed on the branches as far out as 18 inches from the trunk. The resulting 

 tree is thus a throe-story affair, having a seedling root. Hibernal or Virginia 

 Crab trunk and main branches, and a top of the desired variety. This kind 

 of tree looks especially promising since much of the winter injury in ordinary 

 trees occurs in the trunk and crotches. A nursery pool under the supervision 

 of State Horticulturist Stanley L. Painter, makes it easier for growers to ob- 

 tain these custom made trees. 



Leaf Scorch (Magnesium Deficiency). As in Massachusetts, leaf scorch 

 \_caused by magnesium deficiencyX presents a real problem in some Maine orchards, 

 The leaf symptoms include yellowing betv/een the veins, and later, a dropping 

 of the older leaves on the terminal growth. Tests have been conducted in a 

 Maine orchard for a number of years, using a v;ide variety of materials, V^Tiere 

 potash was used, leaf scorch was more apparent than before, V/ithin the last 

 two or three years the effectiveness of magnesium sulfate (Epsom Salts) has 

 been clearly demonstrated. At present, three spray applications, using 20 lbs. 

 in 100 gals., are recommended in magnesium deficient orchards, the first around 

 Calyx period and the other two at ten-day intervals. 



Northern Spy an d Golden Deliciou s. Certain orchard locations seem very 

 well adapted to the grov;ing of Northern ^pies . At the fruit meetings in Buck- 

 field and T(/ilton large Spies of unusually (,ood color and quality (from the 

 Conant and Weeks orchards) v/ere distributed. On the basis of these saiaples 

 it appears that this old variety is very much at home in the Pine Tree State. 

 The Golden Delicious varies vddely in different orchards. From the Y/allingford 

 orchard in Auburn we sav/ some exceptionally fine Golden Delicious. These ap- 

 ples vrere the result of a good soil and good management, including thinning. 

 In other orchards this variety is snail in size and of mediocre quality, due 

 in part, perhaps, to a lack of thimiing. 



