82 MASS. EXPERIiMENT STATION BULLETIN 347 



DEPARTMENT OF POMOLOGY 

 R. A. Van Meter in Charge 



The winter of 1936-37 was remarkably mild. The recot-ds of the Station show 

 that the lowest minimum of the winter, 5° F., occurred on November 25 and 28. 

 Winters with no subzero temperatures are very infrequent and the occurrence 

 of the winter minimum in November is unprecedented. Peach buds came through 

 the winter with little injury and the crop was good. 



The summer was also in contrast with recent years because of abundant and 

 well-distributed rainfall. Apple scab was more prevalent than for many years, 

 but some fruit growers were able to combat it successfully and harvested clean 

 crops. Brown rot of stone fruits was prevalent and strawberries rotted rather 

 badly. 



More than half the bearing apple trees in the experimental orchards were 

 removed, having served their purpose in our investigations. The trees remaining 

 bore a somewhat smaller crop than last year. 



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

 and L. Southwick.) Experiments in propagation were continued. Most of the 

 Mailing stocks grew well from root cuttings taken from two-year-old nursery trees 

 but there seemed to be difTerences with the different stocks. All attempts to root 

 hardwood cuttings with and without treatments with different hormones failed. 

 Budding these stocks was more successful than in the previous two years, due 

 largely to more favorable moisture conditions. 



The plants in the stock bed were all laid down horizontally and the new shoots 

 hilled up with better success in producing rooted shoots. Stocks grown on short 

 pieces of seedling nurse roots rooted well with most stocks. 



Plans were made and trees budded for setting an orchard of certain varieties 

 on certain Mailing stocks to replace the old Stock and Scion Orchard which was 

 removed in the spring of 1937. 



In relation to this project about 2,000 trees budded on Mailing stocks were 

 planted in cooperation with twenty different commercial growers over the State. 



The South Amherst orchard made little growth even with adequate summer 

 rainfall and fertilization with manure. It is planned to make a study of the reason 

 for the small growth of these trees. 



The Mailing stock orchard of Mcintosh and Wealthy at the Station produced 

 a good crop. There is a certain area where there are many trees making poor 

 growth. Some of these were treated by injecting various combinations of fertilizer 

 elements (including certain "minor elements") into the soil around the tree. No 

 results were observed but this work will be continued. 



Studies of the fruit suggest that the rootstock influences both size and shape 

 of the fruit. They also show that the progressive decrease in size from year to 

 year is greater with trees on the dwarfing stocks, especially on Mailing IV. Trees 

 on this stock seem to grow and mature very rapidly and may be expected to reach 

 old age earlier than those on the usual stocks. 



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

 among nurseries, similar to the one made last year, gave further opportunity 

 for study on this project. Special attention was given to sweet cherries and 

 peaches. It is believed that the varieties of cherries commonly met with can be 

 identified with certainty. Leaf serrations are of little value, but leaf shape, folding, 

 and light reflections of the leaf are valuable. Considerable progress was made 

 with peach varieties and plans are being made to grow a collection of varieties 



