-5- 



SOME ORCHARD OBSERVATIONS 



By the time you read this, any chemical thinning you planned to do should be 

 done and the results becoming evident. We vrill not have obtained set records where 

 experimental trials were made until late June or early July, however, so we cannot 

 say how our testa have turned out yet» 



It became apparent in the latter part of i/Iay that all growers did not have 

 an overset of Mcintosh even though most everyone had a " snowball" bloom on this 

 variety. This situation, we feel, supports ovir contention that chemical thinning of 

 Mcintosh should not begin until 10-lb days after petal-fall. The same sort of thing 

 happened in many Delicious blocks. This variety often "thins itself" to a desirable 

 degree without the use of chemicals « However, some of you may see more apples novT 

 and they may seem closer together than they did two weeks ago. Can you still do 

 some chemical thinning of Mcintosh? We have thinned Mcintosh satisfactorily a s late 

 as k weeks after calyx, so if you are still i*ithin t hat period or still ahead of the 

 final drop you might help this year's fruit size and next year's bloom by applying a 

 thinning material. If the June drop is well under way or complete, you cannot expect 

 to accomplish anything with chemical thinners, however. 



Apparently the amide form of naphthaleneacetic acid is capable of causing foliage 

 injury occasionally. Early Mcintosh seems to be susceptible sometimes. In one of 

 our tests on this variety, this year, 12 ounces of the commercial material per 100 

 gallons of water applied diluted with a hydraulic sprayer in bloom, or at calyx, time 

 caused considerable leaf curling and shoot growth inhibition. The same variety in an 

 adjacent block sprayed with 8 ounces of Amide per 100 gallons with a speed sprayer at 

 petal-fall showed no injury. To our knovfledge Early Mcintosh is the only variety that 

 this material has injured in this state. At least two growers have noticed it, also, 

 on this variety. It looks like we'll have to suggest lovTer concentrations of Amide 

 for Early Mcintosh in the futvire. 



You may be interested to know that controlled atmosphere storage capacity 

 in this state is on the increase. At the present time there are enough rooms under 

 construction to add about U0,000 bushels to our controlled atmosphere capacity. We 

 expect there will be a total capacity in Ikssachusetts of 75,000-80,000 bushels this 

 fall. 



— P ,V»r. Southwick 



ECHOES FROM THE STRAWBERRY CONFERENCE 



at Beltsville, ifaryland 



Research in strawberry growing is being carried on in so many different parts 

 of the United States, Canada and in foreign countries, that it is highly desirable 

 for the workers in this field to get together occasionally to talk over their pro- 

 blems and swap ideas. In order to provide an opportunity for a "get-together" to 

 discuss the latest developments in strawberry research, and to show \7hat is going 

 on at the U.S.D.A, Horticultural Research Statical at Beltsville, iiiarylard, the small 

 fruit staff at Beltsville organized a two-day conference on liay 26th and 27th, Al- 

 though the conference was designed to meet the iieeds of research workers, it was not 

 limited to them. Nearly 1^0 people attended tte conference. Of these, a considerable 

 number were nurserymen or their representatives and strawberry growers. These people 

 came from many parts of the U,S, - California, Oregon, Vermont, New Hampshire and 

 Florida, among others - and from Canada and even one researcher from the Netherlands, 



