SOD MULCH SOMETIMES A SUCCESS.* 



F. H. HALL. 



Tillage A test reported in Bulletin No. 314 of this Station 



usually best appears to prove quite conclusively that, for apple 

 practice in orchards in New York State, on most soils and in 



orchards. nearly all situations the tillage-and-cover-crop system 



is superior to the sod-mulch method of handling 

 the soil. In the work now reported, the results of another test 

 show that, under some rather uncommon conditions, the sod- 

 mulch method may give fruit better adapted to certain market 

 demands, and a larger yield, at less expense. But the situations 

 where these conditions are likely to be met are so few that orchards 

 succeeding in them must be considered " exceptions that prove the 

 rule," " Tillage is best." 



tj., . . Probably best known among the representatives 



*u j of sod-mulch systems in New York State is one 



1 * tf»H fnr among the hills of Onondaga County, southwest 



^ e ^ c of Syracuse. In this orchard was developed the 



es * " Hitchings method " of sod mulching, named from 



the owner of the orchard and originator of the method, Mr. Grant 

 Hitchings, who has united with the sod mulch other original ways 

 of dealing with his trees and fruit, so that his orchards stand for 

 much that is " different " in fruit culture. This farm, as the home 

 of the simplest method of sod mulching, was selected by the Station 

 ten years ago, as a most appropriate place to locate a comparative 

 test of the two strongly contrasted ways of handling orchard soils. 

 ■p. . .. Three plats were selected for the purposes of the 



, , ." test. A, the largest, is on the comparatively level 



P ' floor of a valley, at the foot of a rather steep hill 



on whose slopes lie B and C, the other plats. In A, the trees, two 

 years set when the experiment began, are R. I. Greening and Sutton 

 in alternate rows. Each section — tilled and sod mulch — of this 

 plat, contains nearly two acres. 



* Reprint of Popular Edition of Bulletin No. 375 ; for Bulletin, see p. 503. 



[909] 



