-8- 



Only \TL of the apple trees in the 86 orchards have been planted since 

 1950 which is a much lower figure than the 20% plus figure generally consid- 

 ered to be necessary to maintain a good strong orchard operation, Addison 

 County, with 387o of the state's apple trees, has 15% of the tree population in 

 the non-bearing age bracket. Bennington County, with 21% of the trees, has 

 only 3% in the young bracket. Windham County, which is the third important 

 apple growing county, has 23% of the trees in the non-bearing age bracket. 



Growers may realize some benefit from the survey by determining the 

 situation in their own orchards as to ratio of non-bearing to over-age 

 trees and also the number of low value trees being grown. The short- 

 comings of growing an orchard in which a very high number of trees are 

 already in, or soon will be in, the over-age bracket shows up quickly if 

 and when selling the orchard is necessary. An orchard on a good site, 

 made up of the right varieties for the situation and with a favorable ratio 

 of young to full-bearing age trees, is a good proposition both from income 

 and resale value standpoints. A good ratio of young to old trees and high 

 to low value varieties is a form of insurance that an apple grower might 

 like to look into. 



— C. Lyman Calahan 



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



ABOUT INSECTS AND MITES 



Revised editions of Disease and Insect Control Charts for Massachusetts 

 are now available in County Extension Offices and the Mailing Room, Univer- 

 sity of Massachusetts at Amherst. 



These charts are designed for commercial growers of Apples, Pears, 

 Peaches, Cultivated Blueberries, Strawberries, and Grapes. They have been 

 developed cooperatively by Extension and Research personnel of the College 

 of Agriculture from the headquarters at Amherst and the Field Stations at 

 Waltham and Wareham. 



For Home Orchardists the "General-Purpose" Home Orchard Spray Schedule 

 (Special Circular No. 178) is still available but unchanged. This chart 

 features a mixture of captan, methoxychlor and malathion, a safe, effective 

 combination for use on all home gro\«i fruits. 



* Vf * -k it •}'( i( Vf it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it 



Strawberry growers planning to use captan in repeated applications 

 from before bloom and all through harvest to control various fruit molds 

 should plan also to control 2-spotted mite (red spider) . It is well knovm 

 that captan creates conditions favorable to mites. The addition of meth- 

 oxychlor or DDT to one or two pre-bloom sprays encourages mites even more, 

 but may be well worthwhile to control plant bugs, spittlebugs, and weevils. 



