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Does Propping Pay ? In sone of the high producing apple 

 orchards in Massachusetts, no props at all are used. And, 

 strange to say, the breakage of branches is negligible. 

 Tree frauework and method of priming offer the explanation. 

 If trees are trained according to the "Leader System", 

 branches are v;ell spaced and no weak crotches are allowed 

 to develop, they will hold a heavy crop with only an 

 occasional broken branch. The tree with a UO-bushel load 

 droops umbrella-like, and after harvest comes up smiling 

 again. But an old, poorly formed, winter injured tree is 

 a different story. If it matures a heavy crop, something 

 is likely to give way. liaybe trees of that kind have 

 outlived their usefulness. Ha-zing observed thousands of 

 orchards we come to this conclusion: With the right kind 

 of pruning, propping is not only unnecessary, but unprofita- 

 ble. Prop poles cost money. They last only a few years. 

 The pile of prop poles harbors certain pests. It's a 

 laborious job to set the poles properly. If set in the 

 wrong place, the branch may break at the point of contact. 

 An investment in poles and in propping labor is a dubious 

 one. Propping is a poor way to "prop up" an orchard 

 enterprise. 



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A 3, 700- Year-Old Farm Bulletin Extension teaching is much older than most 

 folks realize. An expedition in Iran last year unearthed a clay tablet 

 bearing agricultural information which antedates the first previously knovm 

 bulletin, "Works and Days," by the Greek poet, Hesiod. Among the approved 

 practices here listed are putting the grain in the soil two fingers deep 

 and irrigating a fourth time to net an extra yield of one cup in every ten. 

 "On the day v*ien the seed breaks through the ground." the farmer was 

 advised to say a prayer to the goddess of the mongoose, enemy of field 

 mice and other vemin that might hana the grain. He must also scare av^ay 

 the birds. 



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Bulk Spreading of Lime The total tonnage of ground limestone 

 distributed to Massachusetts farmers through the RLA. in 19^0 is 

 impressive. It amounts to more than ?^,000 tons of vihich 18,000 

 tons were bulk spread. Lime distributed to fruit growers was, 

 for most part, high magnesium or dolomitic. Every fruit grower 

 should request this type since it represents the cheapest form 

 of insurance against magnesium deficiency. And bulk spreading 

 is by far the best means of placing the lime where it will do 

 the most good. An occasional Qound of unspread lime here and there 

 virhere bags were piled in years past is a reflection on the business 

 ability of the owner, 



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