FRUIT NOTES 

 January 19^5 



COMPILER OF FRUIT NOTES RETIRES 



On January 31 the compiler of FRUIT NOTES idll retire after about 30 years of 

 service as Extension Horticulturist in Massachusetts* But it will not mean retire-, 

 ment in the usual sense of that termo He will travel by plane a few days later to 

 Rome, having accepted another horticultural assignment with the Food & Agriculture 

 Organization of United Nations e This mission will be in Syria, with headquarters 

 in Damascus, said to be the oldest city in the world from the standpoint of contin- 

 uoxis habitation dating back to 2^00 B, C, The nevT assignment vri.ll involve a horti- 

 cultural program designed to increase production and improve quality through such 

 measures as (1) investigating and appraising existing varieties and cultural methods, 

 (2) introducing, testing and propagating improved varieties suited to the different 

 regions of the country, (3) training Symn technicians in all aspects of orchard 

 nanagenxantjincluding the control of insect pests and diseases, and (I^) assisting in 

 the establishment of a Government-controlled certification agency for plants, and 

 supervising the production and distribution of better propagating material, (Trans- 

 portation in Syria by jeep or camel vfould "top off" v/hat looks like a restful (?) 

 schedule for one in retirement), 



* -sf- ■)'<• •«- ■«• -;;- it •?;- ^ -ji- -x- -je -;(■ 



SINCE 192h 



At a season v:hen everyone is looking toward the year which lies ahead, the 

 writer, before embarking on his new adventure, wants to take a back\/ard look to 

 September 192^, and the intervening years. Arriving in Amherot via the old trolley 

 line from Northampton, after four years of teaching at Michigan State Colige , he 

 began to pick up the threads of an Extension program v;hich had been carried on so 

 effectively after Viforld Vifar I by R, A, Van Meter, and for about a year by F, Eo Cole, 

 Those vrere pioneer days, as we see them novj'. The barrel sprayer was still seen in 

 the smaller orchards o Some of the larger orchards had a very vd.de assortment of 

 varieties. Lime sulfur vvas still the standard fungicide for apple scab control. 

 The spray gvm, and a little later the triplex nozzle, were commonly used. The Mc- 

 intosh variety had been quite heavily planted but in 192^ only 2^% of the commercial 

 crop v/as of that variety vrhile the Baldvd.n made up UOJa, Apple maggot and plum cur- 

 culio were causing very heavy damage, and few grovrers were controlling apple scab 

 satisfactorily, A few of the so-called Demonstration Orchards of the early 'Teens 

 were still so labelled but^with one exception, they were demonstrations in name 

 only. 



The changes which have taken place in the fruit business during the past 30 

 years are so v/ell known as to require only brief mention. Here are a fevj- of them: 

 The quad, and later the multiple nozzle spray broomj towers on spray tanks to per- 

 mit better coverage of tall trees; removal of every other diagonal row in crovirding 

 orchards; more attention to cross pollination as filler trees of pollinating varie- 

 ties were removed; substitution of mulching for cultivation; correction of magnesium 

 deficiency; gradual planting of nevrer varieties, such as Early Mcintosh, and an in- 

 crease of Cortland along with a decline of Baldv;in; better spray materials; chemical 

 thinning; pre-harvest use of hormones; introduction of nevrer containers, including 

 consumer packages; the air-blast sprayer, and very recently^ virus-free strav/berry 

 plants . 



The Extension Service, along with the Experiment Station, has played an import 

 tant part in bringing about the changes enumerated above, A few examples virill illus— 



