78 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 339 



The Interrelation of Stock and Scion in Apples. (J. K. Shaw.) Appli- 

 cations of muriate of potash to this orchard were made as in the previous two 

 years. This year the potash-fertilized trees were of distinctly better appearance 

 and made better growth than those in the four rows without potash fertiliza- 

 tion. It thus appears that lack of potash is one of the reasons for the poor 

 growth and yields of this orchard. Other Experiment Station orchards have 

 shown indications of potash deficiency, but thus far there is no proof that this 

 condition is at all common in Massachusetts. The question is worth investi- 

 gating. Further study of this orchard cannot be made as it will be removed 

 this winter. 



The Influence of Various Clonal Stocks on Apple Varieties. (J. K. 



Shaw. ) The foregoing project has been revised and redirected as a new project 

 to include the work with Mailing and other clonal stocks. 



Propagation experiments with the Mailing and other stocks were continued. 

 Exposure of scions of these stocks to ammonia fumes failed to give clear proof 

 that this was the cause of the poor stands of nurse root grafts obtained last year. 

 Several thousands of nurse root grafts of the Mailing stocks were made with 

 better results than in earlier years. They were not dug in the fall but seem to 

 have rooted well. 



On account of extremely dry weather in the summer of 1935 the stand of 

 one-year trees budded on the Mailing stocks was very poor. The trees budded 

 in 1934 grew into excellent two-year trees and are available for planting in 

 orchards in the State in a cooperative test of the value of the Mailing stocks. 



A comparison of different ways of treating these trees was made. Some of 

 the one-year whips were cut back in the usual manner at about 32 inches, some 

 were tipped about six inches, and others left with no pruning. All were good 

 one-year trees from three to five feet tall. Measurements taken at digging 

 indicated little difference between the three lots in trunk diameter and the cut- 

 back trees made only little less height growth than the others. Branches on 

 the unpruned trees were well distributed and formed good crotch angles. While 

 no recommendations are made, it may be that cutting back one-year whips in 

 the nursery is an unwise practice. 



The South Amherst orchard on Mailing Stocks suffered again from dry 

 weather and made little growth. With more rain in early summer these trees 

 may yet start into good growth. The Mclntosh-Wealthy orchard at the 

 Station produced heavily. A report on the early years' behavior was made 

 and is listed in this report. 



The stool bed of Mailing stocks recovered from the severe cutting of 1934 

 but yielded few rooted plants. It is planned to pin down the shoots next spring 

 and it is expected that a good production of rooted stocks may be obtained in 

 the fall. 



Tree Characters of Fruit Varieties. (J. K. Shaw and A. P. French.) 

 Most of the work on this project was done on a 2500-mile trip among the 

 nurseries of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, New York, and 

 New England. Twenty nurseries were examined for trueness to name and 

 about 30,000 trees out of some 3,000,000 were found not true to name. Notes 

 were taken on many varieties and our knowledge of tree characters considerably 

 enlarged. Certification work continued on the smaller scale of recent years. 

 This work is done without expense to the public. It is believed that this work 

 during the past fifteen years has resulted in a substantial decrease in the number 

 of misnamed trees reaching the grower, but there is room for further improve- 

 ment. 



