-7- 



SEEN AND HEAKD IN THE FIELD 



Some Ferbam Relationships - The effects of fungicides on yields and condition 

 of Mcintosh apples over a 5-year period {19h9 to 1953) in a New York orchard are re- 

 ported by D. H» Palmiter in the July issue of Farm Research. Comparisons are made 

 between Ferbam and seven other materials, three of them combinations of Ferbam and 

 another fungicide* The Ferbam treated plot ranked highest in total yield per acre, 

 yield of No. 1 fruit, and percentage of fruit showing Fancy color. The total yield 

 of the Ferbam plot was 528 bushels. The others ranged dovmward to as lov/ as 381; 

 bushels. Seventy-six percent of the Ferbam treated apples showed Fancy color. One 

 of the others was as lov/ as $S%* The amount of fruit scab and of spray injury was 

 as loviT ander the Ferbam p: ogram as in any of the others. The author of this article 

 says, "Trees treated with Ferbam each year greatly outyielded those sprayed with sul- 

 fur v;hen no nitrogen was used in either case. Ferbam-sprayed trees without the addi- 

 tion of nitrc^en fertilizer more than equalled the yield of trees sprayed with sul- 

 fur and given nitrogen. Fruit from Ferbam-sprayed trees vms larger, had better color 

 and less scab infection than that from sulfur plots that received nitrogen," 



Strawberries in 1956 - Strav/berry prospects are improving. 

 Virus-free plants offer possibilities of earlier develop- 

 ment of runners and earlier rooting of the daughter plants. 

 Better yields will result from these runner plants vitilch 

 take root in June than from plants which develop in late 

 summer. But the rank vegetative grovrth now apparent in 

 virus-free plantings set last spring points out a real 

 need for spacing of runner plants, Othervirise, the "matted 

 rows" of years past will seem spars 3 by comparison. YJhere 

 a virus-free mother plant shows a dozen or more runners the 

 competition between daughter plants can be imagined. This 

 situation is vrell illustrated by a small planting in the 

 writer's garden viiiere the runner plants were not spaced. 

 Looking forward to the plants to be set next: spring j aside 

 from setting virus-free plants, the advantage of incor- 

 porating manure with the soil in advance of planting should 

 be pointed out. Poultry manure may be used liberally the 

 preceding summer or fall, A fall cover crop fertilized 

 Tidth poultry manure sets the stage for good plant growth 

 the following summer and a good crop of strawberries a 

 year later, 



% 



Are We Too Complacent About the MAGNESIUI-1 Problem? - In a season with 

 frequent rains there is a tendency to forget not only how essential is 

 this so-called minor element, IIAGNESIUM, but haw low is its content in 

 most of our orchard soils. Before the hurricane the foliage in most 

 orchards looked unusually vrell, thanks to milder spray materials than 

 formerly and to an ample supply of mineral elements in available form. 

 Soils originating largely from granite rock are low in MAGI\IESIUl.i to 

 begin vdth. Use of sulfur in liberal quantities in years past has made 

 the situation worse since sulfuric a6id will combine ■ with JiAQNESIUM 

 to form MAGNESIUI'I sulfate, a soluble compound, readily lost by leach- 

 ing. Our best and cheapest means of replenishing the v;aning supply of 

 mGNESim.1 is found in liberal, frequent applications of a high IvIAGNESIUi/I 

 lime, wherever the soil has been allov/ed to become very acid. Our best 

 orchards are in the acidity range, pH $,$ to 6,5> and are maintained at 

 that level. 



