"New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 515 



crop production. 



In the long run crop production is of course the best measure of 

 merit in a method of orchard management. Ten years, it might 

 be thought, is a sufficiently long period to make yield of fruit almost 

 an absolute test as to which of two methods is the better in a given 

 orchard. Happily the ten years during which this work has been 

 in progress have been seasons of abundant apple harvests. Crops 

 have been good, bad and indifferent with some varieties, but total 

 failure has not had to be recorded with any variety in the two bear- 

 ing plats. Table I gives the yields of fruit for the ten years on plats 

 B and C. The yields on Plat A may be briefly summarized as follows: 



Yields in Plat A. — A glance at the chart of Plat A shows three 

 varieties, of which we are considering but two, Rhode Island Green- 

 ing and Sutton; because the third, Wagener, was under sod only. 

 The Rhode Island Greenings bore no fruit until 1911 when the sodded 

 trees bore one bushel of second-class fruit and the tilled trees a 

 half bushel of culls, the crop in both cases having been ruined by 

 insects. For some reason the sodded Greenings bore no apples in 

 1912, while those under tillage bore twelve bushels. In 1912 Sutton 

 in sod bore one bushel; under tillage two bushels. These figures 

 mean but little, probably being accidental variations. 



Yields in plats B and C. — In the table submitted only the total 

 quantity of fruit is given. It is doubtful whether any other figures 

 than those of total yield are worth considering; for Mr. Hitchings' 

 gauge of seconds and culls for his particular and peculiar market 

 is different from that of most apple-growers, depending for one 

 thing more largely upon color. So, too, red-bug was a disturbing 

 factor, causing many seconds and culls in apples large enough to go 

 as firsts. And, lastly, Mr. Hitchings' method of harvesting early 

 apples over a somewhat lengthy period by allowing the fruit to 

 drop or by shaking it on the ground would certainly cause more 

 poor fruit in the tilled than the sod sections; thus we have the state- 

 ment from Mr. Hitchings, " Harvesting the crop of apples under 

 tillage is very unsatisfactory on account of the dirt which clings 

 to the fruit as it drops from the trees. This is entirely avoided in 

 the sod section." It should be added that another reason for this 

 method of harvesting was that on the tilled land the apples were 

 left until they dropped, with the hope that they would color better. 



