96 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



It is hardly necessary, I think, to emphasize these figures because 

 the force of the general principle is in all your minds, and you 

 don't need any further reassurance. But there may be some 

 who are considering the question of type of tillage, type of man- 

 agement, and the figures are given for their benefit, to strengthen 

 the doubtful and to stimulate the man who has been in the field 

 and to encourage him in continuing his good practices. In 

 Orleans County a body of good orchards were taken, all other- 

 wise well cared for in the matter of spraying and puining and 

 they were compared. They all tell the same kind of story, 

 some a little more emphatically than others, namely, the story 

 that good tillage and good feeding give the results we are after. 

 The kind of cover crop will depend largely on your locality. 

 I don't know one best cover crop. 



TABLE I. 

 COMPARISON OF TILLED AND SOD ORCHARDS. 



(Five-year average per acre in bushels.) 



Average condition of all orchards Only orchards 



well cared for 

 Niagara Co. Orleans Co. Orleans Co. 

 Bu. Income. Bu. . Income. Bu. Income. 



Tilled 10 years or more 280 $120 z^j $182 ZZI $i89 



Tilled 5 years or more 254 100 274 138 296 148 



Tilled at least 3 years 239 97 225 113 234 121 



Sod at least 3 years 209 67 222 107 242 118 



Sod 5 years or more 197 76 204 108 258 134 



Sod 10 years or more 194 75 176 87 232 117 



The next slide shows a neglected sod orchard. This is the 

 kind of tillage that does not pay, this is the kind of tillage which 

 gives the lowest returns. Unfortunately, I think, in New Eng- 

 land, in Central New York', and more or less all over the coun- 

 try, there are too many of these orchards. They simply tell the 

 story of failure. 



Next, we have one of the sod orchards. Now there are ways 

 and ways of managing orchards. In connection with this 

 examination we have been attempting to get some light on the 

 influence of different methods. I don't think it follows that we 

 must all till our orchards. In fact, I know it doesn't. There 



