86 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Ques. Is that same formula applicable to old orchards that 

 you want to start the wood growth on? 



Ans. Yes. We have used that in an orchard that is 36 years 

 old, — practically this same formula. 



I will say, in the first year of taking up an old orchard, run 

 out badly, with much dead wood in it, to bring it up to a healthy 

 condition the first thing to do would be to get the dead wood 

 out of it, of course, and then bring it down, if it is too high, try 

 to get some bearing wood below, and then use an application of 

 about eight tons of manure, if you can get it, or else use this 

 very fertilizer. 



And I want to say here that we have run practically this 

 same fertilizer right alongside of annual applications of 12 tons 

 manure for six or seven years, depending on the experiment, 

 and the fertilizer has generally held right up, both in wood 

 growth and in fruit yields. 



Of course we have some failures in some of our experiments, 

 but we are getting good results in nearly all of them when we 

 give them time. We are getting them, and they will get results 

 in that second experiment at Geneva, too, if they give it time. 



Ques. Should the same amount of fertilizer be used in an 

 old orchard? 



Ans. I should think so. You notice that our general formula 

 indicates amounts per acre for bearing trees. This is mature 

 trees. For young trees you should reduce these amounts. 



Ques. Wouldn't you recommend the cultivation of an or- 

 chard for conserving the moisture as a good plan? 



Ans. Certainly, you have got to conserve the moisture in 

 an orchard, but I do not know that cultivation is always the 

 best way to conserve moisture. That is my point. As a matter 

 of fact, that is what we will bring out tomorrow, in discussing 

 the influence of cultural methods. 



Ques. How many trees do you advise to take for a test plot ? 



Ans. I should not use less than six trees of a single variety 

 in each plot. Better use them in double rows and use six trees 

 as a minimum. The double rows cut down the cross feeding 

 and leaching and other possibilities. Use six to eight trees apiece, 

 same variety, absolutely uniform in every way possible. They 

 do not have to be right side by side, so you can exclude a certain 

 tree if it is not right and take in another one a little further 



