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That Kieffer pears ripen properly only at a temperature between 60 

 and 65° Fahrenheit? If held two or three weeks at that temperature, they 

 ripen gradually and are just right for canning. But if kept warmer (80 to 

 100°) ripening is not hastened and the pears remain tough and poor flavored 

 when cooked. Stored below 50°, they do not soften and are not good when 

 cooked. 



That one kind of orchid, a native of Mexico, is grown for its fruit 

 and not for its flower? This fruit provides the most important flavoring 

 substance which the jimericans have contributed to the world. Its name is 

 Vanilla planifolia. 



That the 1944 peach crop (75,000,000 bu.) will go down in history as 

 the most valuable crop of that fruit ever produced? It had a farm value of 

 $171,677,000, 56^ above the most valuable crop previously grown (1943). The 

 1944 crop was exceeded only once (in 1931), when the average price per bushel 

 was 60 cents. The farm price in 1944 was |2.33 per bushel. 



That Massachusetts offers a market for over $100,000,000 worth of 

 farm products annually? These products are now grown on 30,000 farms, 

 covering 400,000 acres of cultivated land. About 1,750,000,000 lbs. of 

 food are produced annually in Massachusetts, filling Zb% of the needs of 

 our people. 



That most of the grapes grown on the Pacific Coast are of European 

 origin? They were first plaiited by Franciscan missionaries as early as 1769, 

 One vine growing in California is said to have borne 15 tons of grapes in a 

 single season. 



That fully 20^ of all America's crop production is the result of 

 using fertilizers? In 1938, each dollar spent by the farmer for fertili- 

 zers produced a return of $3.60 in crop value increase. The return at 

 present is estimated at more than $5,00 per dollar invested. 



That a method of loading bees v;ith suitable pollen is being used 

 successfully in Missouri? Pollen of early blooming varieties of apples is 

 screened out and stored at 32 to 40° F. until time for placing a quarter 

 of an ounce in a beehive fitted with a device which insures ingress to the 

 worker bee at one point and egress at another. Once loaded with the pollen, 

 the bees cannot crawl back into the hive at the same point. Hence, they 

 go out to seek noctar among the late blossoms thus cross pollinating reluc- 

 tant varieties like V/inesap and Stayman. 



That heavy fruiting of the Delicious variety of apple may require an 

 average terminal growth of 12 to 15 inches? The ideal seems to involve 40 

 to 60^ of the spurs blooming, with only one blossom in ten setting fruit. 



