.MAINl; ACRICri/rURAL EXPERIMENT STATION TQII 295 



Irrespective of injury from these sources the unhealthy con- 

 (htion of all the trees was strikingly evident by the pale scanty 

 foliage, lack of wood growth and unthrifty color of the bark. 

 Standing for years in sod, the moisture and plant food neces- 

 sary for their normal growth had been wdthheld. Such growth 

 as had occurred had been undirected and the tops were a mass 

 of ingrowing, entangled limbs which shut out sunlight, reduced 

 aeration and invited decay. 



Under such conditions, the failure to bear crops of any con- 

 siderable size, much less to yield an amount commensurate with 

 the mmiber of trees, is not surprising. The Station has no 

 records indicating the production of the Highmoor orchards 

 from the time they reached bearing age until it came into con- 

 trol. By persons employed at harvest time by preceding owners 

 the largest crop is estimated to have been between 600 and 700 

 barrels; this included fruit of all grades and in all conditions. 

 In the majority of seasons the crop was hundreds of barrels 

 below the figures just given. 



By the time the Station acquired possession in 1909 the 

 season was so far advanced that little treatment was possible. 

 The orchards received their initial pruning in the fall and a 

 general survey of all the trees was made, which indicated that 

 about 36 per cent were in markedly poor condition. 



Despite the fact that all of the several orchards needed 

 thorough treatment, they were not all in equally poor condition. 

 Their disposition for experimental purposes was therefore made 

 accordingly. 



The Baldwin orchard, being in the very poorest, if not in 

 an apparently hopeless condition, was reserved in the spring of 

 1910 for a systematic renovation experiment. Another orchard 

 consisting of several varieties, also in notably bad shape, was 

 given thorough treatment before definitely deciding upon its 

 fate; it has since proved sufficiently unresponsive to treatment 

 to warrant its partial removal. 



The largest block of Ben Davis trees, comprising about 18 

 acres, was set aside for the purpose of bringing it into a con- 

 dition suitable for experimental work in the shortest possible 

 time. Pending that date, (which at the time of writing has 

 practically been reached), no specific experiments have been 

 undertaken. 



