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Last fall, some meteorological experts in Europe were fore- 

 casting the bitterest, longest, and nastiest winter for a century. 

 In fact, all of Europe enjoyed the mildest "non-winter" in living 

 memory until late February. The mild weather permitted the harvest 

 of potatoes during the winter months and as a result only 5000 to 

 7500 acres were not harvested instead of the predicted 25,000 acres. 



The first freezing temperatures at the Wilhelminadorp Research 

 Station occurred on the morning of February 5, 1975. 'Blue Rock,' 

 the earliest plum variety at the research station, commenced bloom 

 on February 13. This variety normally blooms in early April. Thus, 

 at this time, the season was about 2 months advanced. 



The weather turned cooler after mid-February and the 'Blue 

 Rock' plum variety was not in full bloom until March 12. By mid- 

 March, fruit trees in some orchards had been sprayed once or twice 

 and scab lesions were found on pear fruit on March 27. By mid- 

 March, the season was considered to be advanced by 3-4 weeks. 



Cool weather persisted in late March and early April, The 

 first snow of the winter at Wilhelminadorp occurred on Easter and 

 the temperature was 18°F, lower than on Christmas. Fortunately, 

 growth advanced very slowly throughout April and as a result bloom 

 date of apples was "normal" at Wilhelminadorp (first week of May) . 

 Thus, 1975 season changed from 2 months advanced to normal and 

 points out the needlessness of worrying about the weather over 

 which you have no control. The view that "normal weather is unus- 

 ual weather" has validity. Extreme conditions during the growing 

 season usually, for the most part, evens out by the beginning of 

 apple harvest. 



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ORCHARD MOUSE CONTROL 



Edward R. Ladd, Wildlife Biologist 

 U.S. Fish a Wildlife Service 

 Hadley, Massachusetts 



The time for fall control of mice in orchards is here. As in 

 previous years, a check of the orchard should be conducted to deter- 

 mine which blocks or areas show higher than usual mouse activity. 

 These areas should receive extra care in treatment and, if necessary 

 and if time permits, a follow-up treatment should be made. 



Some orchard blocks were hit harder than usual during the lat- 

 ter part of this last winter. Damage in most cases was along the 

 edges of blocks adjacent to unmowed fields. Migration of mice in 

 search of food from these untreated areas was the apparent cause 

 and indicates the need to create a treated buffer strip around these 

 blocks. 



