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portance of light penetration is stressed. Spur-type trees are 

 made to look like standards and spur development is hastened in 

 standard trees. It has been reported that spread trees have more 

 fruit buds, both initiated and set. This may be of particular 

 interest to growers who have a difficult time getting young 'Red 

 Delicious' trees to set fruit. 



Limb spreading is not a particularly time-consuming process. 

 In a pruning demonstration in 2 and 3-year-old orchards. Dr. 

 Heinicke was able to both spread and prune a tree in 3 or 4 min- 

 utes. The potential benefits gained from limb spreading may make 

 a small investment of time well worth the effort. 



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POMOLOGICAL PARAGRAPHS 



Apple trees tolerant to terbacil : Tree fruits must have sufficient 

 tolerance to herbicides to withstand the chance of excessive appli- 

 cation. Furthermore, the soil types and conditions under which 

 herbicides are applied are extremely variable, making a degree of 

 tolerance essential. Recent work by A.R. Putnam and H.C. Price, 

 Michigan State University ( Jour. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci . , Volume 94, 

 No. 6, 1969) showed that 6-year-old apple trees of 3 varieties tol- 

 erated 3 aiccessive annual applications of terbacil at 4 times the 

 rate required for weed control. It would appear, therefore, that 

 the magnitude of tolerance is sufficient for safe use under a wide 

 variety of conditions in our Massachusetts apple orchards. 



When using terbacil, however, it should be remembered that 

 this herbicide is labeled only for apple and peach orchards which 

 have been established 3 or more years. 



Pruning severity as related to scion/rootstock combinations : 

 Richard Norton, Fruit Agent in Western New York State, recently 

 reported in the April, 1970, Supplement of the New York State Horti- 

 cultural Society Newsletter that he can prune apple trees of EM VII 

 more severely and keep them fruitful than those on MM 106. Further- 

 more, he found that Idared and Golden Delicious will continue to 

 bear when severely pruned, but 20 Ounce and Red Delicious may stop 

 f rui ti ng . 



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