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ladders and other pieces of equipment. It is disturbing to see so many pieces of farm 

 equipment mth no protection during the winter. If it's vforth the money invested in 

 it, it's vrorth taking care of. And any laddei' which the ovmer would hesitate to climb 

 because of weak or broken runrs, or general decrepitude, should be repaired and stored 

 under cover or reduced to firewood, 



Lastly5 let's not forget to put the strawberry planting to bed for the winter* 

 The yield of berries next June may be closely correlated v/ith winter protection, leav- 

 Irgthe bed unmulched is a gamble. Some of oiir very cold vreather may come vdien the 

 ground is unprotected by snov/o The crcnTn of a stravfberry plant suffers if exposed to 

 a temperature in the Iwrer Tvrenties, and freezing of the soil is likely to lift the 

 plant enough to break the roots. Straw or other suitable mulch material is a good in- 

 vestment for the strav^berry grov?er, 



lYoH,Thies 



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The Poorly Drained Orchard Is Unprofitable - Competition in 

 modern fruit growing is too keen, and vdll continue to be eo, 

 to make it profitable to produce fruit upon unfavorable sites. 

 An apple orchard will not be a success on ib. nd tiiich is so wet 

 that water tolerant plants including certain sedges, sensitive 

 fern, alders or vrillovfs tend to grov? naturally. Even if there 

 is good surface drainage of water, the results VTill be unsatis- 

 factory. The air above a wet soil is more humid than above a 

 well drained soil. This often means the difference between 

 difficult control of diseases and comparatively easy control. 

 Eliminate the seriously handicapped orchard, 



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BAIDYfIN SPOT OR "PDnc E:g:"? 



BaldvfLn Spot, stippen or bitter pit is of common occurrence in liassachusetts 

 and is not entirely confined to Baldwin, It is a physiological trouble which shavs ou 

 the surface of the fruit as a more or less circular or elliptical sunken area vmder 

 which the tissue is broTm, corky and spongy. 



There are a half dozen or more theories as to what causes this condition and 

 some have little supporting evidence. But let's face it - we do not know vihat really 

 causes it and don't know what to do about it, 



Baldwin spot is easily confused with several other fruit spots caused by fungus 

 agents, Thig fall several Northern Spy apples were brought in vdth spots that appear- 

 ed aimilar/BaldTd-n spot but yet, in some ways, the spots vie re not quite typical of 

 Baldwin spot. Instead, they had the appearance of spots caused by Botryosphaeria , On 

 the surface of the fruit around the sunken skin there was a rosy pink halo. Underneath 

 the skin some had no brovm, dry, spongy, dead tissue, but others did. Is this Baldwin 

 spot or is it Botryosphaeria fruit spot? We are confused i 



C,J,Gilgut 



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