m VISIT YUGOSLAVIA 



During the summer of 19^2, I vras invited by the Food & Agriculture Organization 

 of the United Nations to serve on a horticultural mission in Yugoslavia. This ass- 

 ignment had to do with the improvement of an extensive and relatively primitive fruit 

 industry. Recognizing the lack of progress in recent years, the Government of Yugo- 

 slavia had requested help in reorganizing its orchard practices and in introducing 

 methods which have been found effective in other countries. This was one of their 

 many requests to FAO and other international agencies for assistance in agriculture 

 and industry. The assignment looked interesting and challenging, and after careful 

 consideration the invitation was accepted, A leave of absence from the Universi ty 

 for a period of 12 months was granted. Then followed a series of preliminaries in- 

 cluding clearance, passport, UN certificate, physical exam, etc. Arrangements v/ero 

 made for the payment of salary by FAO and a living allowance by the Government of 

 Yugoslavia, Departiing" : by plane from Bradley Field on August 2^, 1952, I arrived 

 in Rome the next day and spent about 10 days at FAO Headquarters for briefing. Ima- 

 gine my surprise on arrival at the Belgrade Airport, September 8, to be met by a 

 Serbian who spoke good English and to hear on t he radio a once popular American song. 



This brief statement sets the stage for a busy and interesting year, Hie 

 writer has learned a fow things from people viho have been farming for many centuries. 

 In return he was able to impart some ideas along fruit lines which were new to them. 

 Hundreds of horticultural leaders took part in iriformal discussions of fruit pro- 

 blems, and they listened attentively to our presentation of methods commonly prac- 

 ticed in the United States, 



Yugoslavia covers approximately 100,000 square miles and is made up of six 

 Republics, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, Soil and 

 climate are sufficiently varied to permit the growing of all of the tree and small 

 fruits grown in New England plus certain sub-tropical fruits, such as figs. Apples 

 are an important item in Slovenia and in limited areas in other Republics, In Mace- 

 donia some large, well-colored Delicious were observed. They were in prime eating 

 condition in October, indicating a long growing season. Statistics show more than 

 80,000,000 plum trees in the country, more in fact, that in any other country in 

 EXirope, But many of the trees have been planted too close together, with little or 

 no pruning, spraying, or hand thinning of the fruit. Insect control, particularly 

 in ^apple orchards, is Problem No, 1. More about' that in a later issue of FRUIT NOTES, 



Arriving in Belgrade during the harvest season, visits were made to each of the 

 Republics v/hile some of the fruit was still on the trees. This offered a good opp- 

 ortunity to get first hand information concerning fruit problems. In company with 

 an interpreter and one or more of the local horticultural leaders many thousands of 

 miles were travelled over rough roads, frequently in a jeep. Some of the roads are 

 incredibly rough. This presents a big problem in the transport of good fruit, Alao, 

 there are very few cold storage plants in the country, and the fruit processing 

 plants are, in some cases, dependent upon inadequate equipment and antiquated methods. 

 Power sprayers are conspicuous by their absence and most of the sprayers in use are 

 of lovf capacity. Frequently, tvvo men can spray no more than 30 or i;0 trees in a day. 

 Several very low capacity sprayers were observed in use in fairly large orchards as 

 for example, one of $00 trees, requiring 15 days for one spray application. Quite 

 a number of small power sprayers date back to UNRRA days when this equipment was 

 introduced. 



During the winter (mid-December to March) a series of sendnars was held in 10 

 localities. With morning and afternoon sessions, lasting in some cases for a week^ 

 a total of 210 hours were spent in informal discussion. Teachers, research workers, 

 and others from all parts of the country attended. The total enrollment was 387, A 

 list of 15 fruit topics vras previously submitted to each Republic, from which those 



