New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 521 



ings orchards convincing data are lacking, but in tree growth, as could 

 be seen by the eye, the trees in sod are less uniform in most of the 

 varieties. In Plat A, in particular, the diameters, the heights and 

 the spread of branches are all less uniform in the sod than in the 

 tilled plat. Plates XLV and XLVI, in which the two methods of 

 culture are illustrated, show to the eye this greater uniformity of 

 tilled trees. 



For this superiority of tilled trees in uniformity we have the same 

 reasons to offer as those set forth in the bulletin on the Auchter 

 orchard; namely, 1 " No matter how uniform the sod there will be 

 areas well grassed and areas poorly grassed; areas in which there is 

 an admixture of some plant not to be found in the same quantity 

 elsewhere. Now this lack of uniformity of environment cannot 

 but bring about ununiformity in the trees themselves. On the con- 

 trary, tillage is conducive to a uniform environment as it secures 

 surface uniformity of the field, equalizes the depth of soil, and tends 

 to evenness in the amount and availability of moisture and food. 

 One of the reasons for cultivating any crop is to secure an equally 

 vigorous growth over the entire area cropped." 



FOLIAGE. 



The health and vigor of trees are readily determined in the grow- 

 ing season by the color of the foliage. The darker the green of the 

 leaf the healthier and the more vigorous the tree. Most fruit-growers 

 will agree that there is no test of the well-being of an orchard, out- 

 side of actual crop performance, more dependable than the color of 

 the leaves. In determining the value of the two methods of cul- 

 ture under consideration, then, much weight must be given to leaf- 

 color, keeping in mind, however, that there is the possibility of 

 trees growing too vigorously for best fruit production. 



In determining color of foliage reliance must be placed on observa- 

 tions by the experimenters, since there is no ready method of color 

 measurement. The records of the various observers from the Station 

 sent to the Hitchings orchard from time to time during the several 

 seasons of our tenure show that at nearly every visit the color of 

 the foliage of the tilled trees was darker and richer, indicating greater 

 vigor than in the sodded trees. In no case was the foliage of the 



iN. Y. Sta. Bui. 314 : 103. 1909. 



