-3- 



1946 Apple Crop 3 l/s Tines That of 1945 



At the Fana and Hone Week Fruit Meeting on July 23, 7J, E. Piper 

 c :inductQcl a sujnrsy of apple crop pr:)spocts. Fifty-four orchards were 

 rop.irtoi as followsj 



1945 1946 



Mclntish 56,550 bu, 216,065 bu. 



Baldwin 17,909 " 57,580 " 



Delicious 3,812 " 10,497 " 



Total Crop-All Varieties 104,858 bu. 347,035 bu. 



The Mcintosh variety uakos up about 62^ of the total, Baldwin 6% and 

 Delicious 5fo» 



PREMATURE COLORING OF EARLY MCINTOSH APPLES , 



In a block of early Mcintosh trees in Massachusetts there appeared an 

 alan.iing change of color of the fruit around July 8, The reddish colored 

 apples were so conspicuous and so nuraoruus as to sug^^est an aiLnent which 

 night endanger the entire crop. On closer exar.iination it v;as obvious that 

 there were both red apples and green apples on the saiae branch. And when 

 a few apples of each kind were cut to expose the seeds, the red apples v/ere 

 found to have, on the average, fewer seeds thai the green apples. This is 

 exactly what one would expect since each seed acts as a little punp in 

 bringing ivater into the apple. An apple vdth 8 seeds stands a nuch better 

 chance of getting its full quota of water than an apple with 4 seeds. And 

 v;hen s^)me of the apples feel the pinch of co;-.ipetition nature has a way of 

 shedding the unfit . 



Until the rain of July 22, a severe drought had not only caused lawns 

 to turn brown; it had greatly retarded tiie gr'^vrth of apples on dry soils. 

 When the roots are unable to take in enough water to supply the needs of 

 every leaf and apple, thoy becmo strong c lunpotitors vsid, strangely enough, 

 the leaf exerts nore of a pull than the apple. 



In the ab')ve mentioned orchard, if all of the reddening apples EUid at 

 least half of the green apples had been removed, the pr 'blon would have 

 been solved. It was siraply a case of a large number of apples clamoring 

 for water, and there v/asn't enough to go around. 



To make natters still worse the trees in this orchard have more branches 

 than they need and the trees arc themselves crov/dod. So it sinu-iers down to a 

 matter of too nony apples, too r,uiny liiabc, and too laijiy trees to pemit the 

 development of normal apples in a excessively dry suraiaer. The result is 

 likely to be a large proportion of 2 to 2-|- inch apples instead of 2 3/4 to 

 3 inch. 



Cherr^'' Picking Record . A -Tiigrfint worker in Hood River, Oregon is reported to 

 have picked 2168 pounds of cherries in a 12-hour day. It gave hii-i a record - 

 also ^75,84, Pickers generally average ;i;8 to ^1^14 a day. 



