-6- 



convenient for a fire. Many operators push the brush directly into tho 

 firo and unload by backing out. CAUTION j Be suro the tractor is driven 

 by a good operator, that it is adjusted so that the engine will not stall, 

 .and that it has a plentiful supply of fuel. One orchardist nearly lost 

 his tractor because the engine stopped for lack of fuel just as he pushed 

 the load of brush into the fire." (The details of construction will be 

 furnished to any reader of Fruit Notea interested in this new gadget.) 



WOUND DRESSINGS ON APPLE TREES 



Valuable time is often wasted in painting pruning wounds which are 

 so small that they would heal r«adily without treatment. In other cases 

 the material has delayed healing instead of hastening it. In U.S.D.A. 

 Circular No. 656, J. S. Cooley reports an extensive experiment in which 

 -a number of wound dressings were used. Ho summarizes his findings as fol- 

 lows : 



"The most promising of a large number of wound dressings were tested 

 on the limbs of mature apple trees at Hood River, Oregon, and at Arlington 

 Experiment Farm, Arlington, Va, Intemodal or side wounds 25 millimeters 

 in diameter made at monthly intervals for 2 years were treated with two 

 waxlike dressings in comparison with white lead and linseed oil, shellac, 

 aad no treatment. One waxlike dressing (No. 541) contained eight parts by 

 weight of rosin and throe parts of sardine oil; the other (No. 540) was 

 similar except that it contained copper soap in addition. More rapid heal- 

 ing took place in the transverse diameter; in the longitudinal diameter the 

 wounds enlarged by dying oven v/here the best dressings were used. Even at 

 the end of the second growing season the longitudinal diameters of the 

 wounds were larger than at the beginning. 



"Wounds made in June or later produced little or no callus, in which 

 cases enlargement due to dying took place in the transverse as well as in 

 the longitudinal diameter. The longitudinal extension of wounds made in 

 winter was in general greater than that of those made in the spring. The 

 slightly injurious dressings caused less killing when applied in the spring 

 than at any other timo of the year. Shellac gave more callus formation and 

 less dying or longitudinal extension of the wound than any other dressing 

 used. Dressing No. 541 gave better healing in general than white lead and 

 Mnseed oil or dressing No. 540. The untreated wounds gave better healing 

 in general than those treated with white lead and linseed oil, but poorer 

 than those treated with shellac," 



TWO IMPORTANT PEST CONTROL I^EETINGS. The annual New York- 

 New England Fruit Pest Control Conference will be held in 

 Kingston, R. I. November 16 and 17. Research and Extension 

 workers having to do with fruit insects and diseases will get 

 together at that time to exchange ideas. Soon afterward the 

 annual Massachusetts get-together will be held in Amherst at 

 which time the various fruit spray charts will be brought up 

 to date. 



