Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-01-08
Experimenting at fiighmoor Farm.

Mr.. Willisd. Conant Of Buckfield i
the member 4 the Council of the Main'
Agricultural Experiment Station electet
by the State genealogical Society. Th'
following is rom his report presented
at the snnua meeting Of that Society.
In making his report Of the extensive
n Orchard Work nov be
ine carried % at Highmoor Farm, Ii u
not my purpss to go into detail cover
ing all the experiments. But more
ss pscislly tccall your attention to Ger
tain phases Of the work now being
carried on b. the station which should
be of partictar interest to every grower
in the Statei Maine.
Through ae work of hand pollinstion
some very Important evidence has been
secured relEive to the self-sterility oi
some vsriesss, particularly the Ber
Davis. Oubf over 200 sslf-pollinated
clusters of hn Davis blossoms only twc
apples set al these did not grow to
maturity, vile Is per cent OF the Ben
Davis flower which were cross pollinat
ed set fruit. The results thus secured
indicate thathe Ben Davis variety q
least is practically self-sterils. This In
formation Is Of value to many fruit
growers In to state, since great many
large plant,gs of this variety have
been made which are not producing
satisfactory ields OF fruit.
This has $50 an important bearing
upon the mhagement Of the Highmoor
orchards, nce In the two larger
orchards thee are over 1900 Ben Davis
trees practically in one solid block. Dur
ing the blooming period there is very
little ohsns for pollen from 9th z
varieties to ct into these orchards, and
doubtless tbs 10 the main reason why
these orchsds are not bearing theil
maximum cnp. In order TO overcome
this dif6culrs plan was approved oy
the Councils its summer meeting IL
August 1915 top work part OF the
trees in Ber Davis orchard No. TO
other vsrietis. This work was begun
in the springi 1917 using varieties Of
high commrcial value carrying
strong pollen as top stock. with
yearly record the yield of fruit from
this block ottrses, IL 10 possible q
secure some very interesting anc
valuable data Q few years for till
experiment. -
The sxperimut in orchard fertiliza
ton with cultation which has beeI
carried on for sveral years will be con
tinusd until denite results are obtained
In order to capare cultivation WIFE
sod the plots I've been divided, one
half being culti,ted and fertilized q
heretofore, andhe other half to remain
10 sod, using th same amount or Ter
tilizer on the so and cutting the gras'
twice q year allsipg this to decay under
the trees. Thhxperiment Of tillage vs
sod. mulch, unc, the same soil con
ditions, shouldgive some interesting
facts relative tore yield and quality o.
fruit, and the &C; of producing barre
of apples under 10 different systems.
Besides an e'susive experiments on
the mutual infiAce of stock and scion
in which nearly the important com
| mercial varieti grown in the STATE
are used and thsx psrimental breeding
work, careful reeds are kept of ever!
individual tree 1.-THE orchards. These
data include not on the general vigol
and appearance the tree, the tim'
and amount Of bonn, the set OF fruit
the June drop, aount and kind OF In
jury, etc. In addition the aetna
weight Of applesicked from each tret
and the meesud amount OF woot
growth are recohd each year and iI
the course Of tinthese data will giv'
us some vsluableaformation.