-4- 



mention. Incidentally, Maine escaped the severe freeze which occurred in 

 Ilassachusetts May 19. A later frost about June 3 caused some damage to 

 vegetable crops but relatively little to fruit crops. 



(4) Among the fungus troubles observed were several rather severe 

 infections of apple scab, particularly in orchards relatively near the coast 

 where foggy conditions prevail. In two orchards plum trees showed evidence 

 of plum Pockets and .in two peach orchards some Leaf Curl was in evidence. 



(5) Other miscellaneous observations. Orchard crowding is as much 

 of a problem in some orchards as it is in Massachusetts. Cutting back of 

 temporary trees which was done last spring, will provide temporary relief 

 in one large orchard. A rough stony orchard floor in a Wilton orchard sug- 

 gests a need for a few hours' work with a bulldozer, to prevent wear and 

 tear on the sprayer and the -operator. Two heavy swarms of bees were observed 

 within a few minutes in a cOuple of York County orchards. In both cases 

 apple branches were heavily bent with the weight of bees av/aiting the magic 

 hand of a beekeeper. Trunk damage to the extent of killing one tree entirely 

 was observed, following the wrapping with heavy paper of doubtful chemical 

 content about two years ago. The bark beneath the paper was in one case com- 

 pletely killed. One enterprising grower with woodworking ability exhibited 

 some sturdy, light weight step ladders which he constructs on rainy days, 



at the rate of about three per day. One grower with a block of exceedingly 

 vigorous 5-year-old trees and a cover crop of equal vigor, is a strong be- 

 liever in liberal fertilization. He used, in the form of ammonium. .nitrate, 

 the equivalent of about 12 pounds of nitrate of soda per tree. Two spray 

 rings are in operation with fairly good success. In one case where the op- 

 erator uses a 500 gallon tank, it appears that the material is in some cases 

 left in the spray tank too long, as evidenced by a black sludge on some of 

 the trees. Spraying with epsom salts to correct a magnesium deficiency is 

 becoming fairly common. One grov/er made a test of blossom thinning for the 

 first time this year. The results, although variable, show some promise. As 

 a final item, wo report a peach crop in one orchard in 1943 amounting to exact- 

 ly one peach, a Rochester. How this peach in the top of the tree came through 

 a temperature of 2CPbelow zero is a mystery, 



GRASS (from The Soil Auger) 



"Next in importance to the divine profusion of water, light, and 

 air, those three physical facts which render existence possible, may be 

 reckoned the universal beneficence of grass. Lying in the sunshine among 

 the buttercups and dandelions of May, scarcely higher in intelligence than 

 thope minute tenants of that mimic wilderness, our earliest recollections 

 are of grass; and when the fitful fever is ended, and the foolish wrangle 

 of the market and the forum is closed, grass heals over the scar which our 

 descent into the bosom of the earth has made, and the carpet of the infant 

 becomes the blanket of the dead. 



"Grass is the forgiveness of nature j- her constant benediction. 

 Fields trampled with battle, saturated with blood, torn with the rut* of can- 

 non, grow green again with grass, and carnage is forgotten. Streets abandoned 



