12 N. H. Age. Experiment Station* [Bulletin 256 



11 -year-old cultivated Mcintosh section of the University orchards and 

 in a mature commercial Baldwin orchard at Wilton, N. H. During 

 this, the first season, the Mcintosh trees receiving complete fertilizer 

 produced 226 pounds of fruit per tree while those receiving only nitro- 

 gen produced 241. In the Baldwin orchard the trees receiving only nitro- 

 gen produced 585 pounds, while those receiving the complete fertilizer 

 produced 386. Considering the fluctuation between individual pairs 

 neither of these differences can be considered significant. 



Recent evidence from various sources indicates that phosphorous and 

 potash tend to become fixed in most soils before they can reach a depth 

 at which they would be available to the feeding roots of an apple tree. 

 Experiments have recently been reported from the California Experi- 

 ment Station in which surface applications of potash were of no avail, 

 but materials in solution forced down in pipes to a depth of three feet 

 have benefited prune trees in certain respects. This offers a plausible 

 explanation of the failure to obtain results from surface applications of 

 complete fertilizer on New Hampshire orchards. It may be added, 

 however, that under ordinary soil conditions in this secton apple trees 

 do not exhibit the indications of lack of sufficient potash which have 

 been observed in apple orchards in England. 



In the Woodman Orchard, where nitrogenous fertilizer has been com- 

 pared with nitrogen and phosphorus since 1929, a special effort was 

 made to plow the phosphorus deeply into the soil and then by seeding 

 down to allow the feeding roots of the tree to enter the area in which 

 the phosphorus had been incorporated. The yield in 1930, the second 

 year of the experiment, is slightly in favor of the trees receiving phos- 

 phorous, but again the difference is scarcely significant considering usual 

 sources of variation in yield w T ithin an orchard. 



Precooling Helps Keep Mcintosh 



The eating season for Mcintosh apples can be kept open 'till the fol- 

 lowing summer by means of cold storage, finds E. J. Rasmussen in a 

 series of storage tests. For keeping up to Christmas, common storage 

 proves best, since it gives the apples a chance to ripen up. From Jan- 

 uary to June, however, cold storage at 30° proved most satisfactory as 

 far as firmness is concerned and at 32° where flavor is considered. 



Pre-cooling, i.e., getting the apples down to 30° temperature as soon 

 as possible, was found to improve considerably the keeping quality. 

 There should not be more than five days from tree to storage for suc- 

 cessful handling, however. 



No difference in keeping quality of Mcintosh from different orchards 

 could be detected, even though one lot was from a sod orchard and 

 another from a cultivated one. With Baldwins there was a fairly 

 marked difference. Ground color — the green or yellow undercolor of 

 an apple — and pressure test are not always an indication of the best 

 keeping quality in Baldwins. 



Losses in weight in cold storage were insignificant. During the usual 

 storage period, November 1 to June 1, the average loss was from 1*4 

 to 2V2 pounds per box. In common storage loss in weight was at the 

 same rate up to March 15th. [Purnell Fund) 



