ANNUAL REPORT, 1930 273 



Chile, Gold Drop, Crosby, Fitzgerald, and Elberta seem to be fairly 

 homozygous for ripening date, while Belle and Champion are heterozygous. 

 Vainqueur, Greensboro, and Carmen seem to transmit earliness in crosses. 

 A character for very tough flesh appeared in the selfed progeny of Cham- 

 pion and Belle. It appears to be recessive. 



The work with the freezing apparatus was continued. Not enough data 

 have been obtained to draw conclusions, but length of exposure to cold 

 and previous exposure to high or low temperatures seem to be important 

 factors in influencing the killing temperature, as well as rate of tempera- 

 ture fall. Lowering the temperature to near the killing temperature and 

 then holding it there for twenty-four hours ofifers some promise as a 

 method for determining the relative hardiness of varieties and seedlings. 



Testing Methods of Pruning. (J. K. Shaw). The project with young 

 bearing trees has been carried on as before. The weights of prunings 

 and growth, bloom and yield were recorded. No new or striking results 

 have appeared, and at present it seems that this experiment suggests less- 

 ened rather than increased importance of pruning. While the pruning of 

 bearing apple trees will doubtless be continued, its effect on the crop is 

 probably far less than that of soil management or spraying. 



Effect of Pruning on Bearing Apple Trees. (W. L. Cutler). This 

 experiment on trees now forty years old is in its fourth year. No striking 

 differences in size, color, or quality of the fruit have yet appeared. The 

 evidence now available indicates that heavy pruning has, on the whole, de- 

 creased yields; and that light pruning may have given somewhat greater 

 yields than no pruning. 



Comparison of Cultivation and Sod in a Bearing Orchard. (J. K. Shaw). 

 This experiment has continued as in the past four years. The cultivated 

 plots without fertilizer gave a fair crop of high color this year, yet much 

 less than fertilized plots. The highest yield for the four-year period 

 has been from the cultivated plot receiving nitrogen, but the color is not 

 quite as high as that from the sod-nitrogen plot. There seems to be a 

 benefit from the addition of potash to nitrogen on sod plots, but as this 

 potash plot has always yielded more than the one without nitrogen a care- 

 ful analysis of more data is needed before final conclusions may be drawn. 

 Comparison of Clover Sod and Grass in Sod Mulch Orchard. (J. K. 

 Shaw). The white clover on the potash-phosphorus-lime plots continues 

 to increase, but the yields of apples are still better on the nitrogen-phos- 

 phorus-potash plots. Determination of nitrates in soil from clover patches 

 and from adjoining grass areas gave at no time higher nitrates in the 

 clover. Growth and yield have been better on the clover plots than they 

 were on nearby unfertilized sod plots. 



Tests of Different Amounts of Nitrate of Soda. (J. K. Shaw)-. The 

 Baldwin trees in sod receiving 10, llVz or 2-5 pounds of nitrate of soda 

 gave a heavy crop this year. The color was inferior, but there was 

 no difference between lots that had received different amounts. It 

 is now planned to apply nitrogen in the non-bearing year only for a 

 period of years to see whether color is improved and yields maintained. 



Comparison of Cultivation and Heavy Mulching for Apples and Pears. 

 (J. K. Shaw). The mulched plots continued to yield heavily, the Mcln- 

 to.sh trees averaging nearly 30 bushels per tree while one tree yielded a 

 total of 48 bushels. This comparison has continued for eight years and 



