- 8 - 



Sjme Storage Observation s - The pressure tester has been used in quite a fev/ storages 

 during the past month. Differences is degree of rj.peness of Hclntosh are stery appar- 

 ent, reflecting the time required to cool the storage to a suitable temperature, and 

 temperatures maintained since th£.t time. Pressure readings ranged, in general, from 

 around Ih doivn to 10 or lovrero Even in a good cold storage the reading on the pressure 

 tester drops by about one unit in three weeks, li'.Tien it reaches 10 Mcintosh should bo 

 on their ytay to market, or as one grower puts it, "Someone else should ovm them", 

 ■'/hen the pressure reading is doim to 9s th© apples are becoming mealy and lacking in 

 sales appeal. They deteriorate quickly when displayed in a retail store and are ex- 

 posed to a temperature of 70° cr higher. Any grmer who plans to gamble with the late 

 vri-nter market will do tbII to keep a close check on the firmness of his fruit and 

 govern himself accordingly. It vri.ll be most uj.ifortunate if an appreciable quantity 

 of the fine apples now in storage are allowed to ripen to the point where they lack 

 consumer appeal, 



ITide differences are also noted in the relative humidity in storages. The sit- 

 uation varies from an inch of water on the floor to a dry as dust set-up with slight 

 wrinkling of the skin of the apples already apparent. Every storage operator should 

 have the equipment needed for measuring relative humidity instead of guessing at it, 

 A wet and dry bulb thermoineter (sling psychrometer) is inexpensive and easy to operate. 

 By noting the difference in readings on the two thermometers and consulting a eimple 

 table the relative humidity is easily determined and the operator knows whether the 

 storage air is 70, 80 or 90% saturated. The first figure would mean very poor stor- 

 age conditions^ 90-95^ is OK, Access to a pressure tester (a fev; county agents now 

 have them) and ovmership of a device for measuring relative humidity go hand in hand 

 iTith good storage manageraento 



^/<,H,Thies 



•5i- ■!!■ -js- -;?■ -A- ■«■•}{• -Jj- ■«• -;{• -jf- -;;- -;;- 



THE NY»NE FRUIT SPHAY 



A safe but effective "General-Purpose" spray formulation for all fruits is now 

 a reality. It is called the NYwNE Fruit Spray because it has resulted from a coopera- 

 tive project established by the Nev/ York-New England Fruit Spray Conference r The for- 

 mula includes tvTO of the safer insecticides, metho^grchlor and malathion, and the fungi- 

 cide, captan. 



There is every reasoh to believe that prepared mixtures like the NY-NE Fruit 

 Spray will become readily available in 19SS* They should be of particular interest 

 to groovers v;ith relatively small orchards, part-time enterprises, and to the home or- 

 chardist. 



The idea of having a "general-purpose" mixture useful against a wide variety of 

 pestis on a vdde range of fruits is not nev/, Jiany such mixtures have become available 

 during the past several years, Hov/ever, many of them failed in their objective in 

 one way or another. 



Mixtures containing lead arsenate can not be used on peaches v/ithout danger of 

 cauoing serious injury to trees. Those containing sulfur may cause serious injury to 

 grape foliage and to raspberries, especially in hot weather. Some contain lindane, 

 v/hich invites the possibility of off-flavorSa Still otheis contain chlordane or DDT, 

 thus creating a residue hazard when applications close to harvest are found necessary. 

 Since many of these mixtures depend upon sulfur or mixtures of sulfur and ferbam for 

 disease control, their use is likely to be disappointing during a season favorgble for 

 apple scab and during almost any season v^hen used on scab-susceptible varieties such 



