1915.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 21a 



The total sales for the rear were as follows : — 



Fruit, $2,511 86 



Vines, 17 50 



$2,529 36 



The experimental work of the year has followed the general 

 lines mentioned in recent reports. 



Weather observations in co-operation with the United States 

 Weather Bureau have been continued, and as a consequence of 

 the records made in connection with these observations and close 

 study of the incidence of frost in different parts of the , cran- 

 berry district Dr. Franklin feels increasing confidence in his 

 ability to forecast frosts. 



A j)reliminary trial of second-hand shade cloth (used one 

 year by tobacco growers) for covering the vines for protection 

 from frost indicates that this method will prove of value in the 

 case of bogs without water for flooding. 



The results obtained in the spraying experiments, carried out 

 in co-operation with the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture under the immediate direction of Dr. Shear of the depart- 

 ment, have given results somewhat at variance with those ob- 

 tained in earlier years, and on the whole they do not clearly 

 indicate such methods of spraying as have been tried to be dis- 

 tinctly beneficial. Dr. Franklin has noticed what seems to him 

 a rather serious harmful influence upon the development of the 

 roots of the vines to follow spraying. 



As a result of Dr. Franklin's continued careful observations 

 and experiments he has been able to advise in greater detail and 

 with more confidence methods of management which will tend 

 to prevent or greatly reduce the amount of insect damage to the 

 vines and fruit. 



Dr. Franklin has discovered that one of the Chalcidids is 

 parasitic upon the eggs of the fruit worm, which is, everything 

 considered, probably the most serious insect enemy of cranberry 

 growers. There appears to be no doubt that this is the most 

 important parasite of any injurious cranberry insect thus far 

 discovered, and Dr. Franklin is now studying the question 



