ANNUAL REPORT, 1938 85 



the season being one of abundant rainfall. Several hundred clonal stocks were 

 budded to ten different types of ornamental forms of malus with the hope of 

 securing ornamental trees of different sizes suitable for appropriate landscape 

 plantings. The trees for replanting the field occupied by the old Stock and Scion 

 Orchard made good growth and are available for planting in the spring of 1939. 

 Plans are being made to set this orchard according to the newer methods for 

 field experiments. 



The cooperative orchards set in the spring of 1937 have been visited and trunk 

 ■diameter measurements taken. Some of these orchards are doing very well and 

 only a few will probably fail to give worth-while results. The South Amherst 

 orchard made much better growth than in previous years. Whether the more 

 adequate rainfall of the past two seasons is just becoming effective or whether the 

 better growth is due to some other cause is uncertain. The trees were fertilized 

 with Cyanamid about two years ago. While the time of application and amounts 

 seemed conservative, it is possible that this may have had an injurious effect. 

 It seems wise to be very cautious in using Cyanamid on young trees. Soil from 

 this orchard was transferred to pots and variously fertilized, with ample and 

 restricted water supply, using seedling peach trees as indicators. This test gave 

 no clear indication of beneficial effects of fertilizers but did suggest that limited 

 water supply was unfavorable to growth. 



A clonal stock orchard of 90 trees planted at the college in the spring of 1937 

 made excellent growth. The growth of the trees is so far not greatly affected by 

 the stock. Some of the trees were blown over more or less by the hurricane of 

 September 21 and those on some of the dwarfing stocks seemed to suffer more 

 than others on vigorous stocks. 



The Mcintosh and Wealthy orchard on clonal stocks grew well. The injection 

 of certain fertilizer materials into the soil in the area where the trees are making 

 poor growth was repeated. No distinct benefits are yet evident. The trees in 

 this orchard suffered rather severely in the hurricane, but only six trees were 

 considered to be ruined. It is difficult to be sure of the relation of stock to injury 

 on account of differences in exposure. Trees on their own roots were uprooted 

 more than those in adjoining rows on Mailing X and XIII. It is known that 

 many of the own-rooted trees had unsymmetrical root systems when planted. 

 Those on seedling roots suffered more than adjoining rows on Mailing XIII and 

 XVI. There is little to suggest that, in this orchard, trees on semi-dwarfing roots 

 were less resistant to the wind than those on vigorous stocks. Trees on semi- 

 dwarfing stock are showing symptoms of middle age, such as lessened height and 

 shoot growth and smaller apples than those on standard stocks. It is believed 

 that semi-dwarf trees will require better cultural conditions than do trees now 

 commonly grown. 



Tree Characters of Fruit Varieties. (J. K. Shaw, A. P. French, O. C. Roberts, 

 and L. Southwick.) The usual trip for inspection for trueness to name was made 

 in August and September by the leaders of this project. Eighteen nurseries 

 scattered from New England to Michigan and Virginia were visited. As the 

 demand for certified trees continues, some seven or eight thousand apple trees 

 were certified under the auspices of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



In our own nurseries forty-five varieties of cherries, practically all met with 

 in nurseries, were budded on Mahaleb stocks for further variety study. A similar 

 block of red-leaf peach stocks were budded to fifty-four varieties of peaches. 

 Several lots of more or less uncertain identity were also used in an attempt to 

 positively identify the variety. Most of the buds were from trees known to be 

 true and the others will be carefully checked. 



