.5- 



growing strawberry plants thEin either poultry manure or v/ell rotted stable 

 manure. More poultry manure should be used for this purpose in Massachusetts. 



Another very effective way of using poultry manure is found in stim- 

 ulating the cover crop to be plowed under in advance of setting the plants. 

 For example, if rye is sown on a soil which has received a liberal application 

 of poultry manure, a heavy growth may be expected. Then as the rye is plov»-ed 

 under, soil organic matter is greatly increased, and the strawberry planting 

 is directly benefitted. One of the large producers of strawberry plants in 

 Nev; England has adopted this practice with good results. He grows fine straw- 

 berry plants on a soil well filled with organic matter from a rye crop stimu- 

 lated by poultry manure. 



One other disadvantage of applying poultry manure in the spring of 

 the bearing year is briefly thist As the strawberry plants develop in the 

 spring, the tender pedicels or fruit stalks are likely to be burned if they 

 come in contact v/ith this material. The writer recalls seeing a planting 

 several years ago which looked as if it had been scorched by fire. The ex- 

 planation was found in a layer of poultry manure wliich the v/ell meaning owner 

 had applied around the plants in early spring, V/ith large quantities of poul- 

 try manure available for agricultural use in Massachusetts, v/ays must be found 

 to utilize this material to good advantage, A considerable quantity can be 

 used by strawberry growers, not as a spring tonic in the bearing year, but 

 as a means of encouraging a strong grov/th of runner plants the first year. 

 If vigorous plants are grown, and if they are v;ell mulched in the fall, there 

 is little or no need for fertilizers of any kind the following spring, 



BEE REPELLENTS 



In the spring of 1943 some experiments were conducted at the State 

 College by F. R. Shaw and A. I. Bourne to determine the repellent value of some 

 of the suggested bee repellents. The reader may ask, "Vfhy repel bees from fruit 

 trees when they are known to be necessary for pollination?" The answer, of 

 course, is that bees are needed only while the trees are in full bloom. They 

 should leave promptly after they have accomplished their viork, since they may 

 later be poisoned by spray materials. In these experiments the following test 

 was made on 10 Cortland trees. Applications were made on May 22, using car- 

 bolic acid, creosote, and a phenol preparation. The west side of each tree was 

 Sprayed v/ith one of these materials, and the east side with a standard spray 

 mixture, without any repellent. 



The most apparent result was blossom injury. This appeared in all 

 treatments, varying from 10 to lOOjj. The injury was indicated by a curling 

 and browning of the petals which dropped sooner than the untreated petals. 

 There was also some leaf injury, evident as a browning and drying of the tis- 

 sues. Some of the veins appeared blackened, followed by a cupping and crinkling 

 of the leaves. Fruit counts at harvest time shov/ed no consistent differences in 

 in the number of apples on the treated sides of the trees. Observations during 

 bloom indicated that within one day's time there V\rere about as many bees on the 

 treated as on the untreated branch'js. In these experiments there vms more in- 

 jury to the tree from creosote than from the carbolic acid or phenol preparation. 

 Feeding tests indicate that the addition of these materials tends to reduce the 

 length of life of the bees. Y/liether this reduction is due to starvation or to 

 actual poisoning has not been determined. 17ith our present limited knowledge 

 of bee repellents, the general use of such materials cannot be recommended. 



