-6- 



Most of the insecticides now being used, except lead arsenate, will kill 

 plant bugs hit by the spray* Some like DDT, dieldrin, methoxychlor, and 

 some organic phospliates have considerable residual action if the insects 

 crawl about over a good deposit. 



Injury occurred in 1957 because the bugs emerged from hibernation and 

 moved into thf; trees during those hot days. Many went directly to the blossoms 

 and young fruits without danger of being hit by a spray or of crawling over 

 a lethal depcsit. By the time the Petal-fall applications were made the injury had 

 already been started but was not so easily seen then as later when the fruit be- 

 came larger. 



E. H. Wheeler 



I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 



CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE 



Surveys conducted for the American Association of Land-Grant Colleges 

 show that there are each year at least 15,000 new jobs for agricultural 

 graduates, with less than 8,500 young men and women being graduated each year. 

 Jobs are available each year to agricultural college graduates in: Research, 

 Agricultural Industry, Agricultural Business, Agricultural Education, 

 Agricultural Communication, Agricultural Conservation, Agricultural Service, 

 and as Farm Managers. 



Editor 



I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 



ABANDONED ORCHARDS IN MASSACHUSETTS 



As one phase of the Fruit Tree Survey an effort was made to obtain information 

 on the extent of abandonment of orchards over the past fifteen years and the 

 reasons for such. 



When a similar survey was made in 1940 reports were received from 1,576 

 growers who operated orchards of 100 trees or more. 



This 1940 list of growers was submitted to County Agents and others who were 

 asked to delete all whom they knew were no longer in the orchard business and to 

 add names of persons who have become fruit growers since 1940. The revised 

 list contained a total of 901 names. This is 675 names or approximately 43 

 percent less than reported in 1940. 



During the 1955 survey a report was made on each of the 901 names on the 

 corrected list. 371 of these are operating orchards with 100 or more trees, 

 438 are no longer in the orchard business and 92 were not considered as commercial 

 apple growers. 



Hence, while there were 1,576 apple growers with 100 or more trees in 1940, 

 there were only 371 in 1955 or a decrease in the number of commercial growers of 

 approximately 76 percent. 



While, at first glance, it would appear that fruit growing in Massachusetts 

 is on the decline such is not the case since production of apples has increased 

 rather than decreased during the past fifteen years. This means that the small 

 farm orchard has been replaced by specialized commercial orchards. 



