New York Agricultural. Experiment Station. 551 



The facts stated in the last paragraph clearly teach that not 

 only should apple-trees not be grown in sod but that the root-run 

 of the trees should not be restricted by sod on any side of the tree. 

 For the best good of the trees, there should be no sod near the trees. 

 Just as we have shown a most favorable influence on sodded trees 

 from adjacent tilled land, so, too. trees can similarly escape from sod 

 by sending their roots downward if the soil be deep. 



EFFECTS OF THE SEVERAL TREATMENTS ON THE SOIL. 



What were the effects of the two treatments on the soil? A 

 positive answer would lead straight to the pith of our problem, 

 that of determining the relative merits of two methods of soil treat- 

 ment. But we cannot be as positive as we should like. Analyses 

 were not made at the beginning of the experiment and in deter- 

 mining the effects of the two treatments on the soil one must rely 

 chiefly on the behavior of the plants and much less on analyses 

 made at the end of the ten years' treatment. The results as measured 

 by plant behavior have been given and we have now to see how these 

 correspond with the condition of the soil as determined by chemical 

 analyses set forth in Table II, page 533. 



We may as well dispense with a consideration of the figures for 

 all of the compounds and elements in Table II excepting carbon 

 and nitrogen; since there is an abundance of all, excepting the two 

 named, for an orchard soil for this tree generation at least.' Appli- 

 cations of phosphorus, potassium and lime, it will be remembered, 

 were without result in this orchard. The carbon content, however, 

 is important. It is an index of the quantity of humus in the soil 

 and the response that the trees have made to nitrogenous cover- 

 crops and fertilizers indicates that the addition and conservation 

 of nitrogen is important in this soil. Figures are given for the top 

 seven inches of soil only, since- analyses made of the second layer of 

 seven inches showed that it was improbable that the treatment 

 has had appreciable effect on lower depths. Let us pass, now, 

 to a consideration of figures for carbon and nitrogen in this upper 

 layer as shown in the following summary: 



