- 5 - 



and bearing orchards is no longer permitted. No other chemical 

 containing amino triazole has been recommended for orchard use 

 in Massachusetts for the last several years. 



*Trade name 



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Is cross pollination important for strawberries ? Research con- 

 ducted at the University of Vermont indicates that it is. 



Each strawberry blossom contains from 100 to 500 pistils, 

 which must be individually pollinated and fertilized by separate 

 grains of pollen. The more pistils that are fertilized, the lar- 

 ger and better formed will be the fruit; if fertilization is in- 

 complete, the fruit either fails to form or else forms but is mis- 

 shapen. 



Pollination may occur through the action of gravity, wind, or 

 insects, especially solitary bees. Tests were recently conducted 

 at the University of Vermont to determine which is the most effec- 

 tive means of pollination. Some plants were covered with plastic 

 and blossoms were hand-pollinated; others were covered with screens 

 and blossoms were wind-pollinated; others were covered with plastic 

 and blossoms were not pollinated. Still other plants were left 

 uncovered and allowed to be insect-pollinated. 



Those plants left uncovered and allowed to be insect-pollin- 

 ated had twice the yield of hand-pollinated plants and several 

 times the yield of wind-pollinated plants, and plants on which 

 blossoms were not pollinated produced no fruit. Berry size was 

 largest where insect pollination had occurred, and presumably cross- 

 pollination had occurred. 



One of the practical implications from this research is the 

 importance of applying insecticides for control of cutworms and 

 other pests prior to blossoming, so that insect pollinators are 

 not killed by these chemicals. - Dominic A. Marini, Southeast Region 



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THE HARROW PEACH VARIETIES 



J.F. Anderson 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



There has been much interest expressed in the new Harrow 

 peach varieties by growers in Massachusetts. Since these varieties 

 have not been tested in our college plantings, we have secured per- 



