6 - 



Because of the lateness of bloom, one of our local strawberry nur- 

 serymen reports that he Is recommending Vesper to growers who have fre- 

 quent frost da;nage to strawberries. Also, he reports good acceptance 

 of Vesper by roadside stand operators. 



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POMOLOGICAL PAIIAGRAPH 



Pruning rake : Raking prunings from under fruit trees, in the writ- 

 er's opinion, is less laborious than gathering and windrowing them by 

 hand. The pruning rake utilizes tongs of hay dump-rakes which are at- 

 tached to a metal bar. The bar is attached to the 3 -point hitch of the 

 tractor and is offset to facilitate raking under trees. The prunings 

 are raked and then dumped in a windrow by stopping the tractor and 

 lifting the rake . 



One grower has the third leg of the 3 -point hitch longer than the 

 other two, and this is attached underneath the hay rake bar. Thus, 

 when the rake is raised, it automatically dumps the prunings. With a 

 14 foot offset rake, he can collect and windrow prunings in 2 5 acres of 

 orchard a day. 



*************** 



HANDLING STRAWBERRIES FOR FRESH MARKET 



William J. Bramlage 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



Some timely suggestions on the handling of strawberries are con- 

 tained in a recent publication, "Handling Strawberries for Fresh Mar- 

 ket", Calif orni a Agricultural Experiment Station Extension Circular 527, 

 by F. G. Mitchell, E. C. Maxie, and A. S. Greathead, of the University 

 of California, Davis.— This publication is summarized below. 



In discussing handling of strawberries, first of all we must appre- 

 ciate the nature of the strawberry, one of the most perishable of all 

 fruits. Strawberries are essentially full-ripe at harvest, and being 

 very rapidly respiring living material, they will destroy themselves in 

 a relatively short time, even without the presence of decay organisms. 

 The berries have a very thin, tender skin that is easily broken, and in 

 addition, the flesh is so tender that any time the fruit is squeezed, it 

 becomes bruised and will discolor. 



—This publication may be obtained from the California Agricultural 

 Experiment Station Extension Service, Davis, California 



