Ithaca, N. Y., October 15, 1895. 



To the Honorable Commissioner of Agriculture, Albany, N. Y. : 



Sir. — In recent years many apple orchards of the State, espec- 

 ially those in western New York, have not produced satisfactorily. 

 Yarions reasons have bee'n given to account for the many failures, 

 such as an unusual number of fungous enemies, late frosts, dry 

 seasons, and cold wet weather at blooming time, and the like. 



It is only recently that fruit-gi'owers have come to mistrust that 

 partial soil exhaustion of these old orchards, which have not only 

 borne fruit for a quarter of a century or more but also grain and 

 grass, is really a primary cause of the trouble. 



The question is also frequently asked, why nursery trees may not 

 be successfully raised continuously under good culture for a consid- 

 erable number of years on the same land. It has long been known 

 that a crop of nursery trees does not remove large amounts of plant 

 food, and investigations appear to prove that the roots of nursery 

 stock do not in any sense poison or injure the land ; so that some 

 other explanation than soil exhaustion must be found to explain the 

 reason for nursery trees failing to give good results when preceded 

 by nursery trees. 



The following investigations have been undertaken in the hope 



that some light may be thrown upon the question of the depletion 



of the soil by fruit trees, a subject which is now attracting wide 



attention. 



Yery respectfully yours, 



I. P. ROBERTS. 



