48 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 150. 



Several of the less well known of these varieties, judging from the 

 appearance and condition of the samples when they were examined in 

 January and from the notes obtained when the collection was made, 

 appear to have highly commendable qualities and would probably give 

 a good account of themselves if they were more extensively planted. 



5. BLOSSOM POLLINATION. 



The plots, from which bees were screened out on the station bog during 

 the blossoming periods of 1911 and 1912, yielded fruit in 1913 at approxi- 

 mately the same rate as the surrounding bog. A new plot was screened 

 off during the 1913 blossoming period with wire netting through which no 

 bee could work its way. There were a few blossoms present when the 

 screen was put in place, but these were all carefully picked off. The crop 

 on this plot was picked on October 8 and amounted to 2-% quarts, the 

 area of the plot being approximately half a square rod, while the crop 

 produced on any equal area of the surrounding bog was not less than a 

 bushel. It will be noted that this result was in accord with the general 

 results obtained in all similar previous experiments, except that the results 

 with last year's plot were not nearly so striking. 



As it was evident at a glance that the margins of the 1913 plot were 

 bearing more berries than its central portion, a margin 9 inches wide was 

 marked off around the plot and picked separately. The total area of 

 this margin was approximately 34 square feet, slightly more than one- 

 fourth of the entire area in the plot, yet it yielded 664 berries, while the 

 whole plot produced only 1,452. A further marked peculiarity noted was 

 that the portion of this margin lying on the upland side of the plot bore 

 much more heavily than did the remainder, the plot being located at the 

 edge of the bog, just across the ditch from the upland. 



While these observations seem suggestive, it does not seem that any 

 definite conclusion can be drawn from them. 



6. FERTILIZERS. 



The station bog plots used in the 1911 and 1912 fertihzer tests were 

 again treated in 1913 with the same kinds and quantities of fertilizer as 

 before. Because of reflowing operations just before the bloom, the fer- 

 tilizers were applied later than usual, —on July 15. At picking time 

 it was found that the fertihzed plots had not, as a rule, produced as many 

 berries as the check plots, the reverse of the result obtained last year. 

 The decrease on the fertilized plots was not very marked, however, except 

 with plots 14 and 15, these being the two plots on which nitrate of soda 

 had been used in the largest quantities. Plot 15 showed a much greater 

 falling off than did 14, and it had received heavier applications of the 

 nitrate than had 14. This result is somewhat surprising in view of the 

 fact that these two plots had by far the heaviest blossom of any portion 

 of the bog. For some reason, however, there was a marked drying up of 

 the blossoms and small berries on these plots, especiallj'^ on plot 15, not 



