The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-27
HORTICULTURISTS
HOLD MEET HERE
Continued From Page One)


arranged the conference, but was
unable to attend because of i'll
ness. I'm his stead, DR.. George M.
barrow, senior pomologist of the
U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Washington, D. c., presided and
explained the strawberry and blue
berry work being directed at the
Coastal Plain station by Morrow.
c. F. Williams, also of the State
College horticulture department, told
the visitors of the breeding work
he is doing with raspberries and
dewberries.
DR.. Charles bearing, associate
horticulturist of the L. S. D. A.
and assistant director in charge
of the Willard test farm, explain
ed his management program in
commercial strawberry paintings,
and G. A. Meckstroth, plant patho-
logist of the L. S. D. A. stationed
at Willard, told of disease control
studies which he is conducting.
Praise \. c. Program
A number of the visitors highly
commended the North Carolina pro
gram of strawberry research, es-
pecially the name in which the
tests are laid out and plainly mark
ed. DR.. Darrow first showed the
group variety and placing expert
ments, and reported hat excellent
results are being obtained from
~triple-roW spacing as compared with
the common matted row culture.
Using the Blakemore variety for
these tests, the pomo1ogist said that
last year plots of tripie-row spaced
plants produced a season yield of
292 crates of "a quarts each per
acre, as compared with only 243
for the matted rows.
A field where 1000 seedlings were
fruited in 1889 was the next point of
interest for the tourists, and DR..
Darrow told them that two new va
~rieties of strawberries, as vet I'M
named, give eve more promise than
the Eleanor Roosevelt, Daybreak
and Fairmore varieties which We're
developed by the North Carolina sta
ton and introduced to growers in
1889. In variety and selection plots,
one of the new varieties called n.
C. 613 yielded PTS crates of berries
per acre last year, and the other new
variety called n. C. $40 yielded 243
crates. This compares with a yield
of 222 crates per acre of the Blake
more variety, PIG crates of the Fair
more, IA of the Daybreak, 40 of
the Eleanor Roosevelt, 11S of the
Missionary, and 10 crates of the
Fairfax.
DIR. barrow explained that the
breeding work is intended to COM
bine the good qualities of two or
more varieties and eliminate the poor
qualification instance, combine the
tastiness of one with the good ship
ping qualities of another.
The visitors also showed much in
tereSt in DR.. DarroW's explanation
Of the definite relationship between
the number of leaves on the straw
berry plant in November and the
yield of fruit the following spring;
the more leaves in the fall, the more
berries the next season.
Distinguished members of the tour
at Willard yesterday included J. w.
Wilmington, senior experiment sta
ton administrator of the U. S. D. A,
Washington, D. c., and Sidney Gates,
widely known writer for The Coun-
try Gentleman.
The visiting experiment station
workers who were at Willard and
who conferred here were: f. B.
Chandler of Orono, Maine; Harold E.
Thomas of Berkeley, Calf; G. D.
Oberle, G. l.. Slate and r. C. Col
lison of Geneva, N. Y; H. H. Zim-
merley, H. G. Walker and Fl. T.
Cook of Norfolk, Va; J.. C. Miller
of Baton Rouge, La; J. Harold
Clark of New Brunswick, N. J.; |.
c.. Haut and W. f. Jeffers of Col
lege Park, Md; Brooks D. Drain of
Knoxville, Tenn; L. A. Fister of
Jackson, Tenn; w. w. Magill of
Lexington, KY; w. D. Armstrong
of Princeton, KY; r. A. McGinty and
A. M. Musser CT Clemson College,
S. c.; L. E. Scott of Columbia, S. c.;
and o. B. Garrison of Blackville,
S. C.
Representing State college on the
tour are DR.. Schaub; Williams; Prof.
NJ. e. Gardner, head of the Horti-
culture department; Robert Schmidt,
research horticulturist; and H. r.
Niswonger and L. P. Watson, EN-
tension horticulturists. Fred E. Mill
err, director of test farms for the n.
G. Department of Agriculture, help
ed entertain the visitors. at Willard
yesterday.
A bountiful picnic lunch (Which, OF
course included strawberries as a
dessert) was served at the noon hour
J by DR., bearing,