16 University of New Hampshire [Sta. Bui. 330 



It was intended to carry this project until 1943 and then describe 

 the trend in the 10-year period. Since the hurricane severely damaged 

 the woodlands of the area, it is now planned to complete the field 

 work this summer and discontinue the project. 



(Purnell Fund) 

 Spray Management (H. C. Woodworth) 



The effectiveness of spraying depends on the timeliness of ap- 

 plication, and thus the importance of labor efficiency in covering the 

 orchard rapidly is obvious. The amount of labor used during the 

 past season in spraying the various apple orchards varied from .4 to 

 1.2 hours per mature tree, indicating little uniformity in spraying prac- 

 tices. There was a great variation in the number of sprays applied, 

 the amount of labor used for each application, and the number of 

 gallons applied at each spraying. As all the orchardists used the 

 calyx spray, the time involved in spraying gives a good index of the 

 relative efficiency in the use of labor. 



The calyx spray records over a period of five years on 43 farms 

 totaling 162 orchard years show a wide range in the labor used. In 

 11 of the 162 records, less than .04 man hours per mature tree equiva- 

 lent were required, whereas in one, .49 hours were usd. In 100 of the 

 total 162 orchard year records, the labor used fell between .061 and 

 .160 man hours per mature tree. This is only one of the indications 

 of variations in management practices. A wide range in the amount 

 of spray applied also exists. The most frequent quantity of spray 

 reported for a season was three to four gallons per mature tree, yet 

 some farmers applied as much as 12 gallons per tree. These data 

 indicate that the practice of spraying has not been standardized and 

 that great variations exist on the different farms. 



{Purnell Fund) 

 Credit Problems in Wholesale Milk Areas (Byron Peterson) 



This project, initiated in July, 1940, is confined to the situation 

 of dairymen in the wholesale milk areas on the Connecticut river val- 

 ley. Confidential financial information was obtained from 100 dairy- 

 men, and the analysis is now under way. 



The preliminary investigation of the data showed that 22 per 

 cent of the dairymen were free of debt; 30 per cent had debts less 

 than 20 per cent of the total assets; 31 per cent had liabilities between 

 20 and 40 per cent of total assets; 12 per cent had liabilities between 

 40 and 60 per cent of total assets ; and 5 per cent had debts which 

 exceeded 80 per cent of total assets. 



Approximately 76 per cent of the total indebtedness of $192,849 

 of the 100 dairymen was in the form of mortgage loans. 



Type of Indebtedness Amount Per Cent 



Mortgage $146,680 76.1 



Intermediate 19,091 9.9 



Short term 12,972 6.7 



Merchant 9,747 5.1 



Installment 3,184 1.6 



Taxes unpaid 1,175 .6 



Total indebtedness $192,849 100.0 



