BIENNJAI, REI'ORI', ]i)27 AND 1<)28 335 



A new plantation will be started in the sjirinfi; of 1!»29, i)r()hably witli 

 some revision of the schedule of a])i)lic-ations, oiiiittinji tlie earlier appliea- 

 tion.s and addinji' two or three i)l()ts treated with certain forms of orjianic 

 nitro,i;en-carryin<j; fertilizers. 



Work not on Project Basis 



Considerable experimental work is being carried on by members of the 

 de])artment not on the Station staff. The principal lines of work are briefly 

 reported below. 



Cross-pollination and Sterility Studies with Certain Apple Varieties. 

 (F. I". Sears, (). C Roberts and others.) This work has been in progress 

 since 1925. The value of Delicious, Gravenstein, Rhode Island Greening, 

 Wagener, Cortland and other Varieties for pollinating Baldwin, Mclntosii 

 and Wealthy has been studied; also the value in inter-crossing of the 

 latter three varieties and their ability to set fruit with their own pollen. 



Baldwin and Wealthy have jiroved more or less self fruitful and Mc- 

 intosh practically self unfruitful. Rather distinct differences in value 

 of the several varieties in cross pollination have been obtained. 



It is planned to continue the work and to iniblish the results at some 

 future time. 



The Effect of Freezing Temperatures on Apples. ((). C. Roberts). Ap- 

 ples are fretiuently chilled before har\est due to early and unexpected 

 j)eriods of cold weather, and the effect on the keeping quality of the fruit 

 is not well understood. A series of tests for the purpose of gathering 

 observations along this line was started in 1926. Apples are allowed to 

 freeze on the trees and then harvested and stored under varying condi- 

 tions. The results of the past two seasons seem to indicate that certain 

 varieties, at least, may be successfully stored even though they may have 

 been subjected to freezing temperatures. 



Studies of the Arsenical Residues on Apples. {(). C. Roberts coojierat- 

 ing with the Dejiartment of Entomology). This represents an effort to 

 meet the requirements of Health and Food inspection authorities who are 

 trying to make sure that no ajiples carrying an excessive amount of ar- 

 senic reach consumers. Amounts of arsenic closely approaching or ex- 

 ceeding the tolerance of .01 grain per pound have been found only with 

 early varieties and where txees were sprayed later than is Tisual in practice. 

 On the whole the investigations indicate that this problem is not likely to 

 be troublesome in Massachusetts orchards where a proper spraying prac- 

 tice is carried out. 



Light Pruning of Young Grapevines. (B. D. Drain). This work has been 

 carried on for one year only. The vines were pruned less than is usual, 

 leaving about twice the usual number of buds. The blossom clusters 

 were thinned in June. This method, as compared with the usual method, 

 gave 23 per cent increase in production with no decrease in \he qualitv of 

 the crop. 



DEPARTMENT OF POULTRY HUSBANDRY 

 J. C. Graham in Charge 



Broodiness in Poultry. (F. A. Hays). The relation of broody behavior 

 to other characters concerned in high egg production has been further 

 studied. Linkage relations have been discovered between winter intensity 

 and the presence of broodiness. Total days spent in broodiness has been 

 shown to exhibit an important negative net correlation to annual egg yield. 



