ANNUAL REPORT, 1944-45 59 



Sungold is a medium to large, round to oval, attractive, yellow-fleshed free 

 stone, of high quality. The skin is thick and tough so that it should be a good 

 shipper. It ripens with Elberta. The tree is rather small and dwarfish like Hale. 

 It is said to be very hardy and, therefore, seems worthy of further trial. 



Fertile Hale, a whole tree sport of J. H. Hale, is another patented peach. It 

 is a large, round, yellow-fleshed, freestone ripening with Elberta and J. H. Hale. 

 It is only fair in quality and appearance, and resembles Elberta type more than 

 J. H. Hale. Its value Is doubtful. 



Afterglow, a cross between J. H. Hale and New Jersey No. 27116, which ripens 

 a few days after Elberta, is a large, round to oval, firm, yellow-fleshed freestone, 

 with skin medium tough and thick so that it should be a fairly good shipping 

 peach. The flavor while not the best is better than Elberta. It is not so highly 

 colored as some, but is fairly attractive. It deserves further trial. 



Blueberry Culture. (J. S. Bailey.) Although there were no extremely low 

 temperatures during the winter of 1944-45, what appeared to be winter injury 

 was very severe in the spring of 1945. However, the appearance of many apothe- 

 cia of the mummy berry disease indicated a very heavy infection and suggested 

 that much of what looked like winter injury might be due to the ravages of this 

 disease. Accordingly, an experiment to control it with fermate was started in 

 cooperation with Dr. Sproston of the Botany Department. Although it is now 

 evident that the first spray was not applied early enough, there was some reduc- 

 tion of the primary infection of twigs and blossoms. It is too early to tell how 

 efi"ective fermate will be in preventing fruit infection. 



A scale insect, probably a Lecanium sp., appeared on some bushes. Applica- 

 tion of D289 spray at the rate of 1 quart per 100 gallons on March 2i, 1945, 

 when the buds had nearly reached the delayed dormant stage, reduced the scale 

 b\- at least 80 percent. 



In another part of the planting, blueberry bud mite was found. DN 111 was 

 effective in controlling the mites but caused injury to the leaves and spotting of 

 the fruit. 



Nutrition of the High-Bush Blueberry, Especially in Relation to Soil Reaction. 



(J. S. Bailey.) Because of very severe winter injury during the winter of 1943^4, 

 the crop on the manure plots was exceedingly light. Amount of winter injury was 

 not affected by manurial treatment. Some plants are making much poorer 

 growth than others, but this seems to be the result of the type of soil profile. 

 Most of the field is underlaid by a layer of compact, fine, gray sand into which 

 the blueberry roots seldom penetrate. Where this compact layer is less than six 

 inches from the surface, the plants do not grow well. 



To test the effect of potassium on the appearance of chlorosis, a number of 

 rooted cuttings were planted in 1 -gallon crocks in the greenhouse. The soil was 

 from a section of the field where chlorosis had appeared and was treated with 

 varying amounts of K2SO4. No chlorosis has appeared, even in the untreated 

 soil. 



Preharvest Dropping of Apples. (L. Southwick.) Tests were made on Wealthy 

 and Mcintosh to determine the comparative efi'ectiveness of sprays and dusts 

 containing higher percentages of active chemicals than "standard." With 

 Wealthy, there was a good correlation between spray or dust concentrations and 

 drop control. For example, in one test, treatments and percentages of preharvest 

 drop were as follows: Check, 36; standard spray, 18; triple concentration spray, 

 8; standard dust, 16; double concentration dust, 12; triple concentration dust, 4. 



