FURTHER HORTICULTURAL OBSERVATIONS IN YUG05IAVIA 



Since n^ arrival in Belgrade April 12, only tvro of the six Republics have 

 been visited, Serbia and Macedonia, Trips have been made to three of the more imr- 

 portant fruit districts of Serbia « State, private and cooperative farms irrere visit- 

 ed and meetings, similar to our tvTilight meetings, •vrare held vdth horticultural 

 leaders* This incident will illustrate the interest in our discussions of fruit 

 problems. One group of about 200 arrived at a cooperative farm at 5 AH, However, 

 owing to a misunderstanding about the time of the meeting, our Jeep arrived at 3 

 PM« But the group was still waiting, and delayed lunch until our discussion was 

 finished around liOO Ril» Many questions were asked about our insect control meas - 

 ures in the U, S,, varieties, pruning, etc. 



In one of the largest young orchards in Serbia (22,000 trees), an outstand- 

 ing block of apple trees on Mailing 9 was observed. The trees are pruned with a 

 pyramidal form in mind. The framevrork in these thousands of trees is surprisingly 

 uniform. The planting distance is only 3x3 meters (slightly more than 9 feet) on 

 a triangular system. Another block on Doucin stock is planted 6x6 meters. Here 

 the traditional method of prxming results in a vase-form tree with three branches, 

 Apple trees on Mailing stocks can be propagated, thanks to low labor costs, for 

 about 25 cents each. 



Immense numbers of grapevines are grovm in this country since the making of 

 vrine is a very important enterprise. In one large nursery visited last week about 

 ten men were preparing grape grafts, and their dexterous cuts bespoke much practice. 

 Some of them were making these whip grafts on a piece work basis, at l/$ of a cent 

 per graft. The record number of grafts made in a 10-hour day is 1^00, but the 

 average is 1000, 



Since my previous stay in Yugoslavia there have been improvements along sev- 

 eral lines in the fruit industry, A small type of power sprayer is becoming in- 

 creasingly common. One. of these sprayers at a Middle School has replaced a hand 

 operated sprayer, and ^00 trees can now be sprayed in 2-1/2 days. Previously, 15 

 days were required. At one of the Plant Protection Stations, the man in charge 

 had previously no means of transportation. He now has a jeep and is making good 

 use of it. There is an increasing interest in the establishment of an Extension 

 Service and some steps have been taken in that direction. 



There are many Plant Protection Stations here and in some of them the sea- 

 sonal program is gradually changing. In some cases, spray materials may be supplied 

 tsy the Station and the spraying carried out on an individual farm at a reasonable 

 charge, similar to custom spraying. But agricultural ehemicals of various kinds 

 are now made available in every locality through chemical shops v;hich are in charge 

 of trained technicians. Practically every village has such a shop. 



As in the Plant Protection Statien Tdiere the functions of advisory service 

 and actual operation are combined, so in tl?e Fruit Institute, several services are 

 performed. Unlike our Experiment Station where research is the sole responsibility, 

 the Fruit Institute does many things. In a newly established Fruit Institute, five 

 departments are planned, - (l) Production of nursery stock, (2) Cultural Practices, 

 including pest control, (3) Planning and establishing orchards, (k) Fruit proces- 

 sing, and (5) Variety selection and testing, Vifith this organization the possibili- 

 ties of carrying out some effective Extension work, with the Fruit Institute as a 

 base of operation, are quite apparent. In this particular area, it is said that 

 about 95^ of the fruit is found to be blemished at harvest time. The new goal is 

 60^ unblemished fruit. Fuel is relatively scarce in the area served by this Fruit 



