40 Director's Report of the 



The extensive studies of tlie fruits of the State made necessary 

 in the preparation of these fruit publications made it possible to 

 prepare bulletins gi^ang advice as to the varieties, particularly 

 of apples, best adapted to the various sections of the State. The 

 bulletin on apple distribution has been much in demand and with- 

 out doubt has been found to be very suggestive and useful. 



The field work of the Horticultural Department of the Station 

 has not been limited to the Station farm although there has been 

 developed on the farm, including the breeding experiments, a col- 

 lection at one time of approximately 10,000 varieties of fruits, 

 both large and small. In order to study important problems, the 

 Station has acquired the control of several areas of land in vari- 

 ous parts of the State. Some years ago, the question of the use of 

 dwarf trees in apple culture was much discussed and in co-opera- 

 tion with a committee of the Xew York State Fruit Growers' 

 Association, three dwarf orchards of two acres each were estab- 

 lished in the State, one in the western portion, one near Syracuse 

 and one in the Hudson River valley. The results of five years' 

 observation has been rather discouraging as to the general value of 

 dwarf trees, considered from the standpoint of acreage production. 

 This type of orchard seems to be promising in the production of a 

 limited number of varieties, such as the Mcintosh Red, the Lady, 

 the Wealthy and the Jonathan, particularly the two former. The 

 experiments show, however, that with the most of the leading 

 commercial sorts of apples, standard trees are preferable. 



Ten or twelve years ago, a very active controversy developed 

 over methods of orchard management. The merits of cultivation 

 combined with the use of cover crops as against what was termed 

 " sod culture " were warmly debated. This matter being so 

 important, the Station leased an orchard of ten acres which seemed 

 to be well adapted to the pursuit of experimental work for the com- 

 parison of the two methods under discussion. Xine years' results 

 have been secured and the work will be continued only one year 

 more. So far as the results of this orchard are concerned, that is 

 located on land tyj^ical of large areas in western ISTew York, the 

 verdict is decidedly in favor of cultivation and the use of cover 



