STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



113 



TABLE IX.— INFLUENCE OF CULTURAL METHODS ON YIELD, GROWTH, 

 SIZE AND COLOR IN APPLES. 



(Annual yield per acre and total growth increases, 1908-12, and average size and color, 



1909-12.) 



Growth 

 increase 



over 



sod. 



Cover crop 

 Mulch .... 

 Sod 



Per cent. 

 41.4 



23.9 



Color 

 increase 



over 

 tillage. 



Cover crop 

 Mulch .... 

 Sod 



Per cent. 



12,7 

 20.0 



These results show greater benefits from the tillage and 

 cover-crop treatment than any of the experiments thus far 

 considered. In every character except color, this treatment 

 here shows very decided gains over sod alone, and with one 

 additional exception it is also surpassing the mulch by consid- 

 erable margins. In these cases, as compared with sod, the 

 cover-crop trees are making 41% better growth and are show- 

 ing y2% better yields, which amounts in the latter case to more 

 than 122 bushels per acre annually in Experiment 338. The 

 fruit also is 12% larger. As against this, the sod fruit is 20% 

 higher in color. The superiorities and deficiencies of the sod 

 in comparison with the mulched trees are similar, but with 

 smaller differences, and as usual, in the younger orchard, the 

 mulched trees are again showing the highest yields of any treat- 

 ment by about 10 bushels per acre annually. 



These results are likely to be considered much more "ortho- 

 dox" than those in the three earlier experiments, because they 

 are more nearly in line with most of the current opinion. The 

 other results are more extensive, however, and are just as truly 

 the responses of the trees involved. It is evident, therefore, that 



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