84 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 369 



very compact and the mulch less decayed than expected. A second application 

 of waste hay, about two tons per acre, was made, and the trees bore the most 

 heavily of any in the orchard even though the trees, after 18 years of cultivation 

 with no fertilizer, were the smallest of any. This astonishing increase in yield 

 over previous years is probably not due entirely to the mulch, as all our Mcintosh 

 trees bore heavily this year, but it is believed that the yield was larger than it 

 would have been if no mulch had been applied. This suggests that the use of 

 mulching materials in amounts much smaller than were used in our other experi- 

 ments may be a wise practice. For many reasons we confidently advise the 

 use of mulching materials brought in from outside the orchard whenever they 

 can be obtained at a reasonable cost. 



Comparison of Cultivation and Heavy Mulching for Apples. (J. K. Shaw.) 

 The Mcintosh block in this experiment was removed in the spring of 1939 on 

 account of severe damage from the hurricane which blew over in varying degrees 

 13 of the 18 trees. The area was at once replanted with trees largely Wagener 

 and Rhode Island Greening on clonal stocks. No additional mulch was applied 

 as it was felt that there was an ample amount already. The mulching will be 

 continued as seems wise. The young trees behaved alike on both the mulched and 

 cultivated plots, none making good growth perhaps because of injury to the pith 

 and xylem from winter cold while the trees were in the nursery. The Wealthy 

 block suffered little from the storm and is being continued as before. 



The Effects of Fertilizer Limitation on Fruit Plants. (J. K. Shaw.) Some of 

 the trees have been removed and the rest will be pulled out next spring because 

 they are getting too large for the limited area. The fertilizer applications on this 

 field — nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash, alone and in combination — have now 

 been continued with few changes for 50 years. There are no differences in available 

 phosphorus in the soil between the plots that have had continuous phosphate 

 applications and those that have had none. The differences in available potash 

 and nitrogen are not consistent. 



Effect of Potash and Lime on Apple Trees. (J. K. Shaw.) The effort to invig- 

 orate the trees in this orchard by strip cultivation was continued and the fertilizer 

 treatment remained the same. The trees seem to be responding and a heavy crop 

 was produced. The nitrogen-fertilized trees continued to yield far better than 

 those receiving only phosphorus and potash. The addition of potash to nitrogen 

 seems to have slightly increased yields but the difference this year was insigni- 

 ficant. 



Study of Varieties of Fruits. (J. K. Shaw and staff.) 



Apple. Observations in the nurseries show that the so-called red bud sports 

 of many varieties continue to replace the varieties from which they sprung. 

 Probably this tendency means improvement, but in many cases the parent 

 varieties, when well grown, may be quite as attractive as the new ones — but 

 they are not always well grown. Occasional comments suggesting inferiority 

 of the sporting variety in vigor, productiveness, and other characters are not yet 

 supported by experimental evidence. This question will be investigated in 

 another project at this Station. Some of the red sports of Gravenstein seem to 

 keep better than Gravenstein. This may or may not be an advantage. 



Cortland seems to be gaining in favor but cannot yet be said to be a major 

 variety in this State. It seems to be more susceptible to internal cork than other 

 varieties but it appears that this can be controlled. It is a favorite variety of the 

 curculio. It is susceptible to storage scald, and must be picked at the proper 

 stage of maturity. In our experiments this has been about two weeks after 

 Mcintosh. The variety has met with sales resistance in the market, but this is 



