14 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I903. 



YIELD OF FERTILIZED AND UNFERTILIZED TREE, 1902. 



Variety. 



Treatment. 



Unfertilized. 



Stable manure. 



Commercial 

 fertilizer. 



Gravenstein. 

 Tallman.. .. 



Culture. 

 Mulch.. 

 Culture. 

 Mulch.. 



4ibbl. (7 trees), 

 -.'i bbl. (8 trees) 



73 bbl. (8 trees). 



I4 bbl. (5 trees). 

 ■61 bbl. (6 trees). 

 U bbl. (3 trees). 



1^ bbl. (4 trees). 



4 bbl. (2 trees). 



I bbl. C3 trees). 



13 bbl. (3 trees). 



The above figures are of interest as showing the variation 

 mentioned ; but, of course, no conclusions can be drawn. The 

 facts are pubHshed for purposes of record. 



Leaving aside the question of fertilizers, it will be seen from 

 the table given that, on the cultivated and mulched areas 

 respectively, the following interesting results were obtained. 



In case of the Gravensteins, the number of trees producing 

 some fruit was nearly 50 per cent greater on the cultivated than 

 on mulched land ; and the average yield per tree was y2 per cent 

 on the cultivated as opposed to 59 per cent on the mulched area. 

 With Tallman the number of bearing trees is greater by one- 

 half on the cultivated area, but the average yield is slightly less. 

 It should be said, however, that most of the Tallman fruit on 

 the cultivated area came from four trees ; the remaining trees, 

 in most cases, having not more than half a peck each. This 

 feature of the experiment will be watched with interest in future 

 work. 



II. Do Potash P'ertilizers Affect the Quality of Fruit? 



To determine the influence of different salts of potash upon 

 the character and chemical composition of fruit, as well as upon 

 its susceptibility (if any) to fungous attack, a young Baldwin 

 orchard was selected. The orchard, about twenty-five years old 

 at the beginning of the work, is located on a good sandy loam 

 soil, with a slightly southern or southeastern aspect. That por- 



N 



