Only a few growers commented on the expense of netti ng, i ndi cati ng 

 that most people who use it feel that it more than pays for itself. 

 Some growers use other bird control devices. Reflectors were re- 

 ported by 11%, with opinion equally divided on its effectiveness. 

 Exploders and scarecrows were each used by 5% of the respondents, 

 and in both cases half of the users felt they were ineffective. 

 One grower reported that 1 helium filled balloon per acre plus re- 

 flectors was effective against crows and starlings, but not against 

 other birds. 



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



POMOLOGICAL PARAGRAPH 



Some cost figures on picking apples . In a study in the State of 

 Washington, each foot of the ladder represented a reduction in pick- 

 ing rate of 0.4 of a box per hour. Pickers in dwarf tree orchards 

 averaged 18.1 boxes per hour vs. 11.7 boxes on standard trees. 

 This also affected their hourly earnings. On dwarf trees at 25(t 

 per box, pickers would have earned $4.52 per hour, and on 

 standard trees, $2.92 per hour. The study also showed differences 

 in picker efficiency. Experienced men pickers outpicked inexper- 

 ienced men by 20% and experienced women by more than a third. How- 

 ever, in dwarf orchards, all pickers harvested at about the same 

 rate.--L.D. Tukey, Perm. State. Hort. Reviews :21( No . 4), Oct. 1972. 



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



STORING BLUEBERRY NETTING 



Dominic A. Marini, Reg. Fruit & Vegetable Spec 

 Southeast Extension Region 



One of the time-consuming aspects of using netting to prevent 

 bird damage to cultivated blueberries is putting up and taking down 

 the net every year. This is done in order to minimize deteriora- 

 tion of the netting by sunlight and to prevent physical damage 

 from wind, ice and snow. It involves unwinding the sections, plac- 

 ing them over the wires, sewing them together and securing the en- 

 tire net in position. The entire operation is then reversed fol- 

 lowing the harvest. 



With the introduction of lightweight polypropylene netting, 

 two Massachusetts growers have found that it is no longer necessary 

 to go through the entire procedure every year. Rather than dis- 

 mantling and removing the net completely, they are storing it in 



