-6- 



F.ACTORS IN FRUIT GRgVING, CONTROLUBLS OR OTHERV^SE 



To a very large extent the grower of tree fruits or small fruits 

 takes what nature gives him. Yields often vary by as much as 100 per cent 

 or more. The reasons are obvious. Many of the factors which control growth 

 and fruitfulness are very largely beyond the grower's control. In some 

 fruit growing regions an adequate water supply is maintained by irrigation 

 and damage from frost is prevented by the use of heaters. Under our condi- 

 tions wo are likely to suffer the effects of too little rain one year and 

 too much the next. If low temperatures occur "it's just too bad." To an 

 evon greater extent no means of preventing hurricane damage have been de- 

 vised. Unfavorable weather with all of its ramifications in the form of 

 poor pollination, actual destruction of blossoms or fruit, and greater 

 prevalence of insects or diseases is a problem with which the fruit grower 

 must contend in one way or another every year. The point we wish to make 

 is briefly this: Since many factors are beyond the grower's control it is 

 only good business to control so far as possible those other factors over 

 which some degree of control is possible. 



Of utmost importance we should mention the location of the fruit 

 planting. Vihether strawberries or apples, the fitness of the soil and site 

 should receive consideration, V^ith so many v^idely varying soil types from 

 which to select, v;e ought not to handicap ourselves by setting valuable 

 plants or trees where slight variations in soil moisture mean so much from 

 the standpoint of yield and profit. If a soil type is so porous that it 

 requires an inch of rain every week or if a hardpan is so near the surface 

 as to result in water logging, the yield of fruit is certain to vary tre- 

 mendously. On the other hand, a deep, well drained soil may withstand a 

 month's drouth without seriously affecting the crop. This tends to em- 

 phasize the need for making a wige choice of soil and site. Frosty loca- 

 tions, in the light of a freeze like that of May 19, must not be replanted 

 to either fruit trees or snail fruits. The same is true of many other low 

 yielding plantings which fail to cone through with a crop just when prices 

 are nost favorable. In short, a fruit grower ought to cooperate with nature 

 by doing his part so well, including selection of location, pest control, 

 spacing, choice of varieties, etc., that even "the vrorst that nature can 

 do" will still result in a profitable crop. 



A VISIT TO TliE EASTERN REGIOIIAL RESEARCH LABORATORY IN PHILADELPHIA 



It was the writer's privilege on November 1 to visit the Federal 

 Laboratory in Philadelphia where an outstanding piece of research in "The 

 Recovery and Utilization of Natural Apple Flavors" is underway. By an 

 ingenisus arrangement, the volatile esters in an apple are captured, dis- 

 tilled, and returned to the apple juice. (Quoting from a recent report: 

 "The numerous attempts made in this and other countries during the past 

 20 years to recover these flavors have never been completely successful, 

 because either some of the more volatile components were lost or in the 

 course of recovery the initial fresh flavor was inadvertently altered." 

 This nem product is a colorless solution of tht volatila constituents 

 of natural apple flavor concentrated from 100 to 150 fold. V/hen blended 

 with apple juice concentrate and reconstituted with water, it is indistin- 

 guishable in taste and arona from fresh apple juice. 



