Feb , 1925] PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 



21 



owing to the fact that all fruit buds of all varieties were killed during the winter. 

 There was a considerable amount of top injury to the trees, but no striking 

 variations between the different varieties. 



The quince has not hitherto been represented in the variety tests, and three 

 varieties were planted in the spring of 1924. 



In the raspberry plantation the Latham variety, set the previous season, 

 has become badly infected with Mosaic disease. 



A considerable amount of interest is manifested in the high bush cranberries, 

 Viburnum americanum. Two hundred-odd plants of this species this year bore 

 their first fruit. The pectin content is evidently high and a firm jelly is pro- 

 duced. However, it has an odd flavor which some persons find objectionable. 



Pruning Experiment with Apples. 



The orchard in which different blocks of trees are being trained to the vase, 

 semi-leader and full leader form, has now passed its sixth season. The data 

 taken in the spring of 192-4 by G. F. Potter, covering the growth during the fifth 

 season and pruning at the beginning of the sixth season, are given in Table IX. 



Table IX. — Wood removed arid groivth under different methods of pruning 



With all of the trees the chief object of the pruning was to maintain a balance 

 between the various foundation branches. It was also necessary to prune to 

 suppress the leaders on the semi-leader trees. In the vase form previous 

 pruning was of such a nature that the trees carried on the trunk only those 

 limbs which it is ex-jiected will remain on the tree as permanent foundation 

 branches. In the semi-leader and full leader trees the trunks carried a number of 

 other branches not designed to remain permanently on the trees and therefore 

 requiring to be pruned with relative severity in order to keep them from crowd- 

 ing and competing with the branches which are to remain as permanent founda- 

 tion branches. On this account it will be noted that the prunings as recorded 

 in pounds per tree are from one-third to one-half greater on the semi-leader and 

 full leader trees than on the vase form trees. However, the semi-leader and 

 full leader trees are somewhat larger than the vase form trees. Taking this 

 into consideration the increase in weight of prunings as compared to the vase 

 form trees is 33 per cent on tl%e semi-leader trees and about 20 per cent on the 

 full leader trees. Growth of the three types of trees has thus far been nearly 

 equal. Growth of the unpruned trees, as has been stated in previous reports, 

 has been unsatisfactory in this experiment owing to the fact that they are 

 located on a relatively infertile knoll. 



