82 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 369 



Horticultural Shell Beans. Work with shell beans is being concluded with this 

 year's work. A good strain of shell bean has deen developed and is being used by 

 many farmers. Wider use of the bean has been prevented by a lack of commercial 

 supply of seed. One association has tried six times to have a crop grown for them 

 with failure in all cases. Seed for distribution to farmers who wish to get a stock 

 of the bean will be maintained. 



Greenhouse Cucumbers. Some time has been devoted during the last year to 

 the gathering of strains of greenhouse cucumbers prior to starting breeding work. 

 All the strains were planted outside and were self-pollinated to purify them. 

 Further purifying must be done before hybridization can be accomplished. 



DEPARTMENT OF POMOLOGY 

 R. A. Van Meter in Charge 



The effects of the hurricane of September 21, 1938, on our orchards were not 

 as injurious as was feared by some. The trees, not too badly torn up or broken, 

 were set up and held by guy wires and very few of them have, thus far, shown 

 injury. The crop produced was the heaviest since 1930. It remains to be seen 

 whether the root damage followed by a heavy crop will weaken the trees in future 

 years. Apple trees bloomed heavily and the fruit set well. Rainfall was some- 

 what deficient during the season but there was enough in late summer and early 

 fall to favor good size of the apples. 



Fruits other than the apple were fair to good except raspberries. The canes 

 suffered severely from winterkilling. Peach buds survived the winter and trees 

 that were healthy bore good crops. The severe cold in late November was un- 

 precedented. No colder weather was experienced through the winter. This 

 early winter cold may have been the cause of injury to raspberry canes and 

 nursery apple trees. 



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

 and L. Southwick.) The stock bed yielded a fair crop of rooted layers which 

 were lined out for budding. They made a fair growth in spite of the rather dry 

 season. It has been observed that any variety grows about equally well on all 

 stocks the first year. This may be because the root system of a very dwarfing 

 stock is enough to promote good growth of the single bud. In the second and 

 third year dwarfing effects may be seen with some varieties and stocks, but in 

 many cases vigorous growth continues until the tree begins to bear at an early 

 age for the variety. Growth in height is retarded before growth in spread, giving 

 a rather low-headed tree. The type of the root system is largely controlled by the 

 rootstock, but its size is determined by the variety budded on it. 



Preparations have been made to set another stock bed next spring to replace 

 the present one, which is not as productive of rooted layers as it should be. 



Some additions were made to the cooperative orchards and all have been 

 visited and measurements taken. Many made very little growth, probably owing 

 to the dry season. These were the ones in sod. It becomes increasingly evident 

 that it is very difiicult to grow a young orchard in sod. Either cultivation or an 

 adequate mulch is essential. 



Starking on Mailing XIII and XVI, set at the Waltham Field Station on a 

 rich, moist, loamy soil in 1936, blossomed and bore heavily. Other varieties in 

 the same orchard blossomed lightly or not at all. 



The new orchard mentioned last year was set in the spring of 1939. It includes 

 900 trees of many varieties, old and new, on the various clonal stocks. The tree 



