APPLE BY-PRODUCTS INVESTIGATION. A. L. Dacy. A field of opportunity which is not improved as it might be in our state at the present time and one which is bound to increase in importance as our younger orchards come into bearing is that of the disposition of the poorer grades of apples in some form other than the whole fruit. Even with the best of care there will be under-sized, under-colored, imperfect fruit produced in our orchards and with the present kind of care there is a large amount of such fruit which is either allowed to go to waste or is put upon the market in such quantities as to injure the sale of good fruit. Realizing the importance of teaching our growers to dispose of such fruit to the best advantage the Horticultural Department has begun an investigation of the subject of apple by-products, if we may call them such. Among these are included unfermented apple juice, sweet cider, cider vinegar, boiled cider, apple jelly, apple butter, canned apples and evaporated apples. Enough progress has been made to confirm the belief that there should be in every apple-producing center of any size in our state an establishment fitted for the manufacture of these several products. It could be made a profitable business for its owner and would be of great benefit to the individual orchardist by affording him a market for his poorer quality fruit. The results of the investigations will be made public from time to time as sufficient data is secured. MARKET GARDENING AND TRUCK GROWING. That our people are importing from outside the state over 30,000,000 dollars worth of farm products annually, as shown by the figures collected by the Experiment Station, is a significant fact. A large amount of this is made up of staple vegetables, both fresh and canned, which can be grown as cheaply and as of fine quality in our own state as in the states from which they were brought. One is led to ask, "Why have our farmers neglected the opportunities for profit which under such circumstances market gardening and truck gardening must surely offer?" "Why is not more of this class of farm produce grown in our own state and the millions of dollars which are now spent out of the state, kept at home and distributed among our own people?" Among the reasons for this state of affairs the following stand out most prominently. 1. The farmer is our most conservative citizen. He is slow to change his manner or type of farming. As a result he has failed to keep pace with the changed conditions brought about by the great industrial developments which have taken place in our state during the past decade or two. It is only within a comparatively short period of time that there have been markets in our state which have demanded more garden products than were produced in the country adjacent to them. While such crops would have paid our farmers better in many instances than the corn or wheat which they had been growing they did not change their manner of farming because, 2. Our farmers have been too busy clearing their land for the crops with which they are familiar have paid them better than in years past so that they have been content to keep on growing them. Many of our farmers have received enough money from the sale of their timber, coal, oil or gas rights to make it unnecessary for them to work for a living and while many such continue to farm, their operations lack the character which stern necessity imparts. Many others have sold or rented their farms and have moved to town which has resulted in lessened production. 3. Market gardening is one of our most highly specialized types of farming. To be successful the market gardener needs to understand thoroughly the soid, temperature, moisture and fertilizer requirements of many different crops. If the gardening is conducted under glass still greater skill is required. The knowledge needed can come only after years of experience or from technical training. Men who combine the two are very scarce. 4. Market gardening is hard work; harder than many of our farmers care to undertake even for the large returns received. It means long hours and constant attention during all kinds of weather. 5. As the markets in our state have grown, their demands have naturally been supplied from places where market gardening has been already a well developed industry and which welcomed new calls for their output. As a result we find today regular channels of trade established from such large producing centers, through wholesale produce dealers to the retailer and thence to the consumer in the different towns and cities. So that we find our markets better supplied with vegetables than the large figures mentioned above would seem to imply. A grower in our own state who begins a market gardening or truck gardening business meets this state of affairs the first time he enters a market and in many instances finds it a discouraging experience for some time. It will be seen from the above reasons given that the present condition in our state as regards the market gardening and trucking industries is largely the result of economic forces. The question naturally arises, "How can these conditions be changed." The following suggestions we believe will contribute to that end. 1. Our people should be more fully acquainted with the facts which have been determined by the investigations of the experiment Station. 2. Provisions should be made whereby the young men of our state may receive the necessary training required in these special lines of farming. Our Agricultural College needs equipment in lands and greenhouses and instructors for this purpose. Our Experiment Station is now looking for a new man who shall give his attention to these branches of horticulture. 3. More emphasis might be and undoubtedly will be given to these subjects in our Farmers' Institutes and in the work of the Extension Department of our College of Agriculture. 4. Demonstration farms should be established at proper points throughout the state where the farmers can be shown the methods of growing market garden crops and the returns which are possible from even a small acreage. Such farms might well be carried on in connection with agricultural High Schools or other state institutions. 5. The Boards of Trade of our various towns and cities can do splendid work in helping to solve the distribution end of the problem which as has been intimated is one of the most difficult connected with the problem. Such matters as public markets and their regulation, cold storage facilities, freight rates, good roads, etc., have a distinct bearing upon the amount, the quality, and the price of the products which will be brought in from the country surrounding their respective towns. Any influence they can bring to bear to help the farmers in their neighborhood will be of ultimate benefit to the consumers in their own towns as well. While truck growing signifies the production of vegetables for market it differs somewhat from market gardening although in many cases it is hard to draw the line between the two. Market gardening is usually carried on either in glass houses alone or in connection with cold frames, hot beds and the open field. It includes a wider variety of vegetables than truck growing which is usually restricted to the culture of a few varieties of a bulkier nature grown in the open field, and usually raised some little distance from the market. Truck growing is more generally adapted to the practice of the general farmer than is market gardening. Such crops as the potato, onion, squash, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, asparagus, musk and watermelon and tomato may be made to fit into the regular farm practice to advantage, widening the rotation of crops and bringing larger returns from the land. Many of the above crops may be produced for the canning factory and thus afford material for a thriving home industry. An example of this may be seen in the tomato canning industry in Morgan county where some 200 car loads of tomatoes are canned annually. The Experiment Station has been studying the fertilizer problem with these growers during the past two years. The farmer's home garden may well be made the source of a better living and an increased revenue on the majority of our farms. With the hope of creating added interest in this part of the farm The Experiment Station has published during the past two years bulletin No. 122 on the Farmer's Home Garden in which directions for raising the common garden vegetables are given. Other bulletins bearing on the producaion of vegetables are, Number 120 Cabbage Worms and Suggestions for Destroying Them and 123 Diseases of Garden Crops and Their Control. The Station has for a number of years been studying the potato and it expects to publish soon a bulletin on the culture of this staple crop. Continued activity along the lines suggested above if made possible by the appropriation of sufficient funds, we believe, will soon lead to an increased production of garden products in our state to the material benefit of all our people. SPRAYING FOR THE CODLING MOTH IN 1910 A DUPLICATION OF THE WORK RECORDED IN KULLETIN 127. The spraying experiment carried on last year (1909) for the purpost of testing the relative merits of four mist sprays and one coarsehigh-pressure spray against the codling moth was repeated this year using the same block of Ben Davis trees. A like number of trees were selected from which to make examination of the fruit for comparing results obtained by the different methods of spraying, but other individual trees were used in most cases, except for checks. This was done in order that trees bearing more equal amounts of fruit might be obtained for making counts than was the case last year. Besides the two tests described in bulletin 127 this time one mist spray was used on four trees in order that we might get more information concerning the effect of this manner of fighting the codling moth, since the one tree in last year's work, mist sprayed once by mistake that was intended for a check, gave such good results in worm-free fruit. In this year's work where the four mist sprays were applied no Bordeaux was used in the first spray, it consisting simply of three pounds of arsenate of lead to fifty gallons of water. The object of omitting the Bordeaux at this time was for the purpose of observing what difference, if any, in the russeting of fruit where this material was not used in the spraying just after the petals have fallen. No difference could be noticed in the amount of injury to the foliage and fruit in the two year's work whether Bordeaux was used in all four sprayings or in the last three. In both cases the foliage dropped badly during the season and the fruit was seriously damaged by russetting. Plate on page 36 well illustrates the condition of the foliage on the trees where Bordeaux was added to the spray material and where it was not used at all, the spray for the season consisting of only arsenate of lead and water. It is generally conceded that Ben Davis trees are more susceptable to Bordeaux injury than many other varieties. As yet Bordeaux mixture is considered the best fungicide for spraying apple orchards, but good results have been obtained by using limesulphur mixtures for fungous diseases of fruit trees, especially in spraying for brown-rot and scab of the peach. Lime-sulphur sprays may in time take the place of Bordeaux as a spray for apple diseases, but up |